Maelstrom EXE
by hussbek
Summary: During the clash at the valley of the end, Sasuke's chidori causes a dimensional portal to open which Naruto falls into, never to be seen again in the shinobi world. When he wakes up, Naruto meets and befriends Lan and Megaman as they work together to thwart the plans of WWW. Possible Naruto/Harem, Lan/Maryl and Megaman/Roll pairing
1. Getting Downloaded into a New World

**Maelstrom EXE.  
Prologue: Getting Downloaded into a New World**

Naruto opened his eyes to find himself laying on his back and staring a dark ceiling with a dimly lit light bulb, he got to his feet and looked around to see that he was standing in a corridor and that the floor was covered in water reaching up to his knees then he heard a low growling noise echoing throughout the hallway.

"This place…looks like I've returned here again despite my dislike of meeting him again," Naruto grumbled angrily "I might as well go and see what he wants,"

Naruto was about to take a step forward in direction of the sound when he noticed something strange…he noticed that blue electricity was crackling around his body and he felt a bit numb.

"What's going on with me? Maybe the fur ball would know about this,"

He continued on his way passing through several hallways with the growling sound getting louder by the minute until he finally found himself standing before a large iron gate with a parchment with the kanji 'Seal' written on it. Naruto peered through the gate to see large red eyes and a mouthful of fangs, loud footsteps were heard and a giant fox with rustic orange fur long ears and nine tails could be seen. This was none other than Kyuubi the nine tailed fox who had attacked the village several years, the leader of the village at that time sacrificed his life to seal the fox within Naruto who was born on that day. However since then, many of the villagers mistreated the boy thinking that he was the fox in human flesh instead of being the one to hold it back.

"What is it you want fur ball? Why did you bring me here?" Naruto asked with a frown.

Kyuubi looked at Naruto with anger in his eyes **"Foolish brat, do you have any idea what you have done?"**

"What are you talking about? All I know is that I was trying to stop Sasuke from doing something stupid like going to Orochimaru," said Naruto with a quirked eyebrow.

Sasuke Uchiha who happened to be Naruto's fellow teammate of squad 7 had defected from their village to join a rogue ninja who was responsible for the death of the previous Hokage whom Naruto had seen as his surrogate grandfather upon promising him the power to avenge his clan and kill his brother Itachi Uchiha. Naruto and a group of his fellow ninjas had gone after Sasuke to bring him back to the village but had split up along the way until it was only Naruto who had caught up with the Uchiha.

Naruto tried to beseech Sasuke not to go, he was refused and it turned into a fight with Sasuke trying to kill Naruto, and the blond trying to knock him out. It went to the point that Sasuke activated a forbidden jutsu which Orochimaru had inflicted him with Naruto having to even the odds by using the Kyuubi's chakra. They had a final clash with Naruto using a Rasengan and Sasuke using chidori which resulted in bright flash of light before the blond found himself waking up within the mindscape.

" **By clashing two techniques with differing types of chakra, you had caused a dimensional rift to appear which your so called friend threw you inside with a satisfactory smile on his face with that cursed sharingan of his! Quite typical of the one who belongs in that damned Uchiha clan,"** Absolute hate could be heard as the Kyuubi spoke of the Uchiha like that.

"Don't talk about Sasuke that way, it's because of that curse seal that Orochimaru put on him! He wasn't acting like himself!" said Naruto angrily.

Kyuubi simply scoffed " **It goes to show how little you know of your own 'teammate', tell me how much you know of the sharingan?"**

"Well…Kakashi-sensei told me that the sharingan can see chakra, see normally fast objects much more clearly and predict them too. What I know mostly is that it can copy any kind of jutsu the user sees except for kekkei genkai," said Naruto while looking confused.

" **Then let me ask you this, did the Uchiha say anything which you found quite odd?"**

"Now that you mention it…" Naruto thought back to his battle with Sasuke.

 ****Flashback Start****

 _Naruto stood on top of the river and looking up at the tall waterfall before him where Sasuke is standing on a ledge looking down at him._

" _What am I to you Sasuke?! I thought we were comrades or have you forgotten about that? Are you telling me that everything Sakura-chan, you and I have done in squad 7 meant nothing to you?!" he yelled out in anger._

 _Sasuke looked at Naruto silently before responding "No, they weren't meaningless. I gained something worthwhile from the times we spent together, we became best friends,"_

 _Naruto was shocked, he never expected Sasuke to say something like that to him "We're…best friends? If so then why are we fighting?"_

" _Like I said, we became best friends…which makes it worthwhile for me to kill you. So make your last moments count Naruto!" then he leapt of the ledge with the chidori crackling in his left hand._

" _I don't understand what you mean by that, what I_ do _know is that I have to stop you and bring you back to the village!" Naruto created a shadow clone as it helped him create a Rasengan before charging at Sasuke to clash their techniques against each other._

 ****Flashback End****

"..He said that it was worth killing me because we were best friends," Naruto said as he finished the story.

" **As I thought…hey brat, did you know that the Sharingan could evolve into a much stronger form?"** said the Kyuubi.

"No I didn't know, but what does it have to do with Sasuke trying to kill me?" Naruto asked confusedly although he's wondering why he's even holding a conversation with the fox.

" **The advanced form of the sharingan is the Mangekyo Sharingan which retains the abilities of a normal sharingan only that one gains additional abilities which are extremely powerful like the Tsukuyomi which is an inescapable Genjutsu completely under the user's control and capable of inflicting psychological trauma that incapacitates the victim for considerable periods of time or most likely completely shatter one's mentality,"**

"You mean that Genjutsu Sasuke's brother Itachi used on him and Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto.

" **Yes, he had the Mangekyo sharingan and you saw that it had to take that Senju woman to cure them of the psychological damage,"** said Kyuubi to which Naruto nodded in affirmation.

"You said that there is a way to evolve a normal sharingan into the Mangekyo sharingan, what is it?"

" **In order to awaken the Mangekyo sharingan, the user must undergo a trauma by witnessing the death of someone close to them. However the Uchiha clan foolishly misunderstood this condition as the user needing to be responsible for the person's death, hence developing a disgusting rite of killing their closest friends in order to obtain the Mangekyo sharingan,"**

Naruto took a few steps back in shock before falling on his butt as he replayed the words that Sasuke said to him which now made a lot of sense to him.

"S-so you mean that…that…" the blond couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.

" **That's right, the brat made you became his best friend so that he could kill you and evolve his sharingan into the Mangekyo sharingan. This is one of the reasons why I detest the Uchiha clan,"** said the Kyuubi.

Naruto was shaking his head in disbelief, refusing to accept the truth "No…it can't be true, we've been through a lot together and fought against enemies who were stronger than us and won! I could have been able to help him defeat Itachi too and we would live the rest of our lives happily,"

" **I find that to be very stupid,"** Kyuubi scoffed which made Naruto glare at him with rage.

"What the hell are you talking about you stupid fox?!"

" **You were trying to force your ideals on someone else, what you want is not what he wants!"**

"Huh?" Naruto looked confused at what the fox said.

" **That brat sought power in order to kill his brother and avenge that accursed clan, but you sought to help him which was not what he desired. When he saw that you were getting stronger, the brat felt that he wasn't striving towards his goal hard enough and decided to seek his power elsewhere and also saw you as the means to an end,"**

"But everyone could have helped him get stronger, we could have backed him up!" Naruto protested.

" **And once again you're forcing him to do something he doesn't want. Time to face the facts, the Uchiha was never your friend from the very beginning. You better accept it with where we're going,"** said Kyuubi.

"What do you mean by that?"

" **Dimensional rifts are extremely rare occurrences very few would know of, they serve as entryways to different worlds that could be similar to one or contrast to another. However they are not without consequences,"**

"What kind of consequences?"

Kyuubi let out a sigh knowing that what he's about to say next could break the kid's heart **"When a dimensional rift appears, the world will immediately repair it as quickly as possible before closing it up, should one pass through the rift, he would end up in another world and would never be able to return to his original world,"**

Naruto felt his heart shatter as the words were heard "So you mean that I would never see Konoha or my friends again? I would never see Grandma Tsunade, Pervy Sage, Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, Sakura-chan, Hinata, and Konohamaru…ever again? This is…this isn't fair!"

Teardrops could be heard dripping on the already wet floor as Naruto, someone whom had never cried in a long time was crying for the first time in many years.

"Just when things were finally looking up for me…I find myself alone again. Why…why should this happen to me? I don't want to be lonely anymore,"

Suddenly he felt something furry curl around his body and lift him into the air, he looked to see that one of Kyuubi's tails was carrying him into the cage, he started to struggle out of the hold but the tail wouldn't let him go.

"What are you doing?! Let me go!"

But the Kyuubi remained silent and refused to release him, Naruto closed his eyes as he waited for the fox to end his life…but nothing happened, no pain, no roar…just silence. He slowly opened his eyes to see that he was situated next to the Kyuubi who curled up next to him.

"Why are you doing this? I thought you wanted to kill me and be free?"

"… **Kit ever since I was sealed within you, I've been watching every minute of your life up to now. I've seen how the villagers treated you and due to my hatred toward humans I found it amusing at first. But as time went on, amusement was slowly replaced with anger at their foolish prejudice, I was expecting you to become a self-fulfilling prophecy to those damned villagers but you still held true to yourself which I must admit left a large impression on me,"** said Kyuubi.

"Then why were you so savage towards me when we first met?" asked Naruto quietly.

" **It was a test to see how you would react to seeing me for the first time. Although you were rude when requesting for my chakra, you didn't do it out of hatred hence increasing my respect for you and since then you never asked for it any differently every time,"**

Naruto was shocked, the very reason why every villager hated him actually respected him. He found it odd but at the same time comforting.

"Thank you for respecting me, and I also want to apologize. I shouldn't have been talking to you that way,"

" **It's alright kit,"**

"So what happens now and why is electricity emitting from my body?" like Naruto said, blue electricity seen crackling from his body and the numbness can be felt around his entire body now.

" **One of the other consequences is that one's body would be ripped apart. But thanks to being my jinchurriki, my chakra will be able to prevent that as well as alter it to adapt to the new environment that you'll end up in,"**

"In a way, I guess it means that we'll be living a whole new life right Kyuubi?" asked Naruto with a smile although still feeling sad about the people he's leaving behind in his old world.

" **You're right about that, by the way it's Kurama,"** said Kyuubi.

Naruto looked a bit confused "What?"

" **That's my name, Kyuubi is just a title as no human has proven themselves worthy of hearing my true name. The same goes for my fellow bijuu as they too have true names although you know of Shukaku,"**

Naruto smiled widely at the now known Kurama "It's nice to finally meet you Kurama,"

" **Same here Naruto,"** said Kurama with a smile of his own.

Suddenly they both felt a sudden surge and Naruto looked down at himself to see that he was fading away much to his shock.

"What's going on Kurama?" asked Naruto.

" **It seems like we've arrived at our unknown destination and you're waking up, time to check out how our new home is like,"**

"You got it Kurama, catch ya later!" said Naruto with a thumbs up before fully disappearing.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes and sat up to look around the area, he noticed that the place seemed kind of strange and foreign which is kind of obvious given how he is in a new dimension now.

He got up but not before realizing that he was wearing different clothes from what he wore before coming here. He is wearing a black spandex bodysuit with a chest plate over it which has a nine tailed fox motif colored orange on the front and a red spiral which is located at the back, and a pair of finger-less gloves with metal plates on the backhands he had noticed that the cloth of his forehead protector had been swapped for a long black one and is wearing a pair of ninja sandals with shin guards. There is also a sheath attached to the back of his waist with some sort of blade inside it.

"Doesn't this look like what the ANBU normally wear?"

As Naruto walked around for a bit, he took note of atmosphere being neither night nor day, the ground looking like tiled platforms with tall cubed shaped totems pointing towards the sky and some even floating in midair if you can even call it that.

"This is kinda weird if you ask me," Naruto mumbled to himself.

Suddenly he heard something making squeaking sounds and turned around to see a large group of strange looking creatures, they all looked like a small black ball with eyes wearing a yellow hard hat with a green cross on it.

"What are those things?" Naruto wondered to himself, suddenly one of the creature spawned a pickaxe from out of nowhere and slammed it on the ground which created a shockwave that raced towards him. Naruto wasted no time as he leapt into the air to avoid the shockwave before landing on the ground and glaring at the creatures that spawned more of their pickaxes and were closing in to attack "All I know now are that they aren't friendly, so much for a welcome party," as he got ready to fight, a faceplate appeared to cover his mouth and nose much to his surprise although he could breathe through it just fine.

"As much as I like the features of these new clothes I could really use some ninja tools," said Naruto, he had instinctively for his ninja pouch which was usually attached to his hip only to notice that it was not there. Then he reached for the blade in the sheath and pulled it out to see that it had the appearance of an elongated kunai with Konoha symbol on it **(The blade from The Lost Tower movie)**.

Naruto held the blade in reverse grip before charging towards the creatures, along the way he crossed his middle and index fingers together and called out "Shadow Clone jutsu!" there was a puff of smoke which faded away to reveal duplicates of himself running alongside Naruto as they charged at the creatures. Naruto slashed down on one of the creatures and was surprised when he saw it explode into blue cubed particles before completely disappearing without a trace, as much as he wanted to think about it, Naruto quickly leapt into the air to evade an incoming shockwave which was approaching him from behind.

"Man I could really use some shuriken right about now," Naruto mumbled then all of a sudden a flash of light appeared at his free hand before it faded to reveal him holding a handful of shuriken much to his surprise "As much as I want to know how I got them, I better focus on these guys," then he threw the shuriken below which took some of the creatures before landing back on the ground.

Naruto looked around and saw that the creatures were glowing lightly before floating into the air and converged and the glow faded away to reveal a single but much larger version of them. The creature raised its pickaxe and brought it down to unleash a much larger shockwave than the ones seen before, Naruto quickly jumped out of the way just in time as the shockwave had left a large trench in its wake.

"Bigger is often better but you know what they say," Naruto created a shadow clone and held his palm out to the clone as it started to weave its hands around it and a blue spinning ball of energy slowly took shape and size "The bigger they are, the harder they fall! Rasengan" once the blue spinning sphere stabilized, Naruto dashed at creature and rammed it with the attack which sent it flying before crashing into one of the cube shaped totems before disappearing like the rest.

"That was something, now how did I get those shuriken when I don't have a ninja pouch on me?" Naruto sheathed the blade and looked at his hand, he decided to try something and imagined himself holding a handful of shuriken. There was another flash of light before it faded and he was holding another handful of shuriken "I guess I can create shurikens just like with my shadow clones, but it seems like it drains a bit of my chakra whenever I do so. Now to resume checking this place out,"

Naruto resumed his walk through the area, after a few lefts and rights he came across something which stood out from what he was now familiar with. It was a small circular platform with a metallic outline and a glowing bright blue center, Naruto slowly but cautiously approached the platform then some sort of barrier surrounded the platform and a floating screen appeared before him with a matrix of circles and lines interconnecting with each other while shifting every now and then.

"How do I get past this barrier?" Naruto looked at the diagram confusedly, he noticed that one of the circles were blinking and he was slowly beginning to understand "It seems like I'll have to trace a from the blinking circle to the end of the matrix...let's see here," Naruto placed a finger on the blinking circle which reacted by glowing then he trailed it through the line from one circle to another and would sometimes intersect with the circles. After a few more tracings, the barrier beeped several times before disappearing for him to pass through.

"Why was I able to understand that? It's as if I've been doing it for a long time, I think I'll ask Kurama later," thought Naruto as he stepped on the platform,

Suddenly he felt as if his body was breaking apart bit by bit but not in a painful way before getting a feeling of being moved elsewhere. After what felt like a couple of seconds, Naruto felt himself coming back together. Naruto took a few steps forward and looked around to see that the environment looked a bit different from the previous one with the area being colored blue and saw more of those floating screens passing by, then he looked up to see some sort of relic which is a red circle with a black line running diagonally through the center which ends in two triangles, all of which is surrounded by a gold ring (Megaman's emblem) spinning around.

Naruto noticed some sort of window which was displaying something he was quite familiar with…the interior of a house and he even saw several people sitting around and they seemed to be having some sort of conversation so he tried to call out to them.

"Helloooo! Can anyone hear me?!" shouted Naruto, the people seemed to have heard him as they were looking around for the source of the voice "Great, now I can find out where I am and what's going on around here,"

* * *

 **This is Hussbek online with the first chapter of the Naruto/Megaman Exe crossover, I was working on a chapter in the Sky Fox when this is story idea popped up at the back of my mind so I decided to put it up in the meantime. The story will begin at where Lan and his friends infiltrate Sci-Labs in order to restore Megaman**

 **There are some things which I would like to inform you about the story:**

 **Naruto would be a temporary NetNavi to Lan.  
He would be able to move between the real world and the Cyber world.  
He'll be able to do a Cross Fusion with Lan and get a special type of Cross Fusion on his own **(Just need a name for it)  
 **I could do a Naruto/Harem but I'll keep a strict lock on the Lan/Maryl and Megaman/Roll pairing.  
Some of the ninjutsu will be converted into battle chips and have their own program advance.**

 **Read and Review as always.**

 **This is Hussbek from Ghana.**

 **Signing out.**


	2. Running a Tutorial

**Maelstrom EXE.**

"Normal speech"

" **Tailed Beast speech"**

[Talking from the PET]

 **Chapter 1: Running a Tutorial**

In this new dimension, the people of the world had forgone the ways of using energies like chakra, chi and magic but rather focused on technology which soon advanced to much higher levels to make their lifestyles to be much easier and more comfortable. In order for such luxuries to be easily accessed, there is a global system of interconnected computer network known as the internet which has been integrated with almost every piece of equipment in existence, from televisions all the way to ovens. Things became so complicated that it required special programs called Internet Navigators or NetNavi for short to effectively process all of the data.

In case you're wondering what a NetNavi is, then they're sentient or semi-sentient computer programs with artificial intelligence designed to help the people operating them called Internet Operators or NetOps for short. NetNavis often reside in their NetOp's Personal Terminal which is commonly known as PET, these PETs can be carried around and are also capable of connecting to computerized devices for the NetNavi to gain access to a place called the cyberspace of the targeted device.

NetNavis also serve as combatants against offensive programs known as viruses whose purpose are to disrupt the cyber network of electronic devices with their NetOps assisting by downloading special programs to help. However, there are some NetNavis also known as Solo NetNavis who don't have a NetOp by either being abandoned or it could be the other way around but there are a few that never had a NetOp to begin with and were alone since creation.

As many people own a NetNavi of their own, it led to a popular competition called NetBattling where the NetNavis battle each other. It is quite the rage among the younger generation and one can find them having NetBattles in specialized areas like the arcades but is forbidden by law to have them anywhere else. In normal NetBattles, the defeated NetNavi is forced to return to their PETs which is a term called 'logging out' but there are circumstances where a NetNavi is deleted permanently or in other words 'killed' in a NetBattle.

Now that you know most of what this world is all about, let us focus on a certain boy who goes by the name Lan Hikari lives in a town called ACDC within DenTech city as he sits at home with his friends and parents discussing about a very serious matter.

"So dad since we have the data, we should be able to bring Megaman back right?" asked Lan.

"Rebuilding Megaman will require two key components, one is the data which we have and the second is Megaman's frame which we don't have," his father known as Yuichiro Hikari.

"Frame? What's that?"

"Think of it as a digital map of his structure,"

"Well then where do we get it?" asked Lan.

"It can only be found at the SciLabs computer,"

"Then let's go and get it," Lan looked ready to leave if his dad hadn't spoken out.

"Hold on Lan, as of now the SciLabs network cannot be accessed as all the channels have been jammed which prevents us from getting Megaman's frame," said Dr. Hikari.

"But who would do such a thing?" asked Lan.

"It was Pharaohman,"

"Pharaohman?"

Everyone snapped up in surprise as they were all familiar with the name, Pharaohman was the solo NetNavi who was responsible for deleting Lan's NetNavi Megaman.

"Yes, somehow he invaded SciLab's mainframe, he broke through the firewall and set his own security code. Once Pharaohman takes over the network in SciLabs, he'll take control over everything," said Dr. Hikari.

"Isn't there anything we can do? There has to be a way so that we can get Megaman back," said Lan.

"If we break through the security code, then we may have a chance. First there are three important things that we'll be needing. First is a high-speed computer with the latest hacking software and a way to move it around with the computer and the vehicle having to be custom built,"

"I can have one or a thousand built today, all I have to do is just ask my dad as he has all the best technicians in the world working for him," said a young blonde haired girl known as Yai Ayano who is the daughter of Richard Ayano, the owner of Ayano Tech and one of the richest in the world.

"Her father is the owner of Ayano Tech so I'm sure that he'll help us," said the red haired girl named Maylu who is a very close friend of Lan.

"That's great I'll be sure to contact Mr. Ayano, the next thing we need are strong NetNavis to break the firewall and release the frame.

"We all have strong NetNavis so there's no problem there," said Maylu with Yai nodding in agreement.

"I'm ready when you are," said Dex, Lan's self-proclaimed rival.

"Me too," said Lan's recent friend Tory.

"You've gotten yourself some good friends while I was gone Lan," said Dr. Hikari with a smile.

"You're right about that dad," Lan smiled in return.

[Helloooo! Can anyone hear me?!]

Everyone jumped in surprise at the voice which just came out of nowhere and where looking for the source.

"Who said that?" said Yai confusedly.

[I'm over here, can you see me?]

They all traced the voice to a small device laying on the center table, it is blue with a sleek design and squarish with rounded edges and a larger piece attached to the bottom left corner as a grip, it also features a retractable cord meant for jacking-in. this happens to be Lan's PET which used to contain Megaman, but now someone else is inside and none are familiar with him.

Everyone gathered at the screen of the PET to see who it was, it happens to be a boy with blond spiky hair with three whisker like marks on each cheek and wearing a headband which has a strange looking spiral, he also wears a black spandex bodysuit with a chest plate over it which has a nine tailed fox motif colored orange on the front and a red spiral which is located at the back, and a pair of finger-less gloves with metal plates on the backhands, and a pair of black sandals with shin guards.

"I've never seen a NetNavi like him before," said Maylu.

"Me neither," said Dex.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my PET?" asked Lan, being a bit apprehensive as Megaman's data is inside.

[My name's Naruto Uzumaki, I was wandering in this weird looking area when I saw a glowing circle and approached. But then some sort of barrier appeared, it took me a while but I was able to bypass and when I stepped on the circle, I found my way here and called out to you guys] said Naruto.

"That's quite impressive of you to be able to do that Naruto, I personally set up that barrier to prevent anyone from gaining access to Lan's PET with my own unique coding," said Dr. Hikari.

[Oh then I'm sorry about trespassing, I just wanted to find out where I am] said Naruto sheepishly.

"Hold on, what do you mean by that? Since you're a NetNavi then that means you should have an operator," said Tory confusedly.

[I don't know what you mean by NetNavi or operator, I'm not exactly from around here]

"Does that mean that you're a solo NetNavi?" asked Maylu curiously.

[From what you're telling me, I must be a NetNavi. But the thing is I'm human]

Naruto's statement earned looks of surprise and shock among Lan and his friends especially his dad.

"How is it possible that you're a human and yet a NetNavi at the same time?" asked Dr. Hikari confusedly.

[Well the thing is that I'm actually from another dimension but I fell through a dimensional rift and ended up here]

"You're from another dimension?" asked Yai to which Naruto nodded in affirmation.

"Whoa dude, that totally sounds like one of my favorite cartoons on TV," said Dex in wonder.

"As much I wish to learn more of your dimension, we're currently under a crisis at the moment," said Dr. Hikari seriously.

[A crisis? Can you tell me about it?] Naruto asked curiously.

"Well it all started when my friends and I participated in the N1 Grand Prix which is a battle tournament to see who is the best NetOp and NetNavi, Megaman and I were able to advance all the way to the finals where we went up against an elite NetBattler Chaud Blaze and his NetNavi Protoman. It was one heck of match between us and both of us even used a powerful technique called the Program Advance but in the end Megaman and I lost the battle. Then Pharaohman came from out of nowhere and attacked, he was the one who deleted Megaman but dad told me that we can rebuild him by combining his data with the frame which is at the SciLabs server which Pharaohman is at right now and preventing anyone from getting in," said Lan.

Naruto was deep in thought after hearing what Lan said before finally speaking [Sounds like a serious problem you guys are having…in that case I'll help you out]

Lan and the others were surprised by what Naruto said.

"But why would you want to help us?" asked Maylu.

[Well I can tell that Megaman is someone whom you all care about and this is the best for you to get him back so I want to help. Besides, one doesn't need a reason to lend a hand to someone who needs it] said Naruto with a foxy grin, which made Yai and Maylu think that he looks cute.

"Thank you Naruto, we're very grateful for your wanting to help us. Before we get started, you'll need to learn how to battle while in the cyberspace," said Dr. Hikari.

[So how will we do that?] asked Naruto curiously.

Dr. Hikari turned to Lan "If it's okay with you Lan, I would like to setup a link between Naruto and your PET,"

"Okay but why?" asked Lan confusedly.

"This way Naruto will be your temporal NetNavi until we get to Megaman's frame and reinstall his data," Dr. Hikari reached into the bag placed next to the chair he was sitting on and pulled out a laptop and a disc which he handed over to Lan "This disc contains a couple of viruses which you can use to teach Naruto the ways of NetBattling and Virus Busting,"

"Okay dad, go for it,"

Lan handed his PET over to Dr. Hikari who plugged it into his laptop and proceeded to type in several codes at high-speed then a loading bar appeared on the screen of the PET before making a ping sound to signal that it's complete.

"Okay the linkup is successfully done, how do you feel Naruto?"

[I feel a sense of connection in here] said Naruto.

"Then it means that the link is stable, keep in mind that it's only temporal,"

"Okay Naruto, time to show you how we do things around here," said Lan.

[Bring it on Lan, I can handle it!] said Naruto with a smirk.

Lan walked over to the TV in the living room while Maylu and the others sat down to watch.

"Jack-in! Naruto, Power up!" Lan pulled out the cord and plugged it into the jack-in port of the TV, Naruto felt himself transferred from the PET and reappear inside the cyberspace of the TV as he looked around the area.

"Okay Lan, I'm in so let's get on with the training," said Naruto.

"Okay, I'm loading the disc,"

Lan slotted the disc into the TV and several creatures appeared before Naruto, most of which he recognized.

 **Music Start: Megaman Battle Network 2 OST; Virus Busting (** **Battle Theme)**

"Hey I met these guys before on my way here," said Naruto as he took a fighting stance.

"These guys are what we call viruses, there are all kinds of them and can be everywhere messing up the system. These are called Mettaur, let's see what you can do against them," said Lan.

"Gotcha," Naruto charged forwards with the facemask coming on and concentrated on his chakra towards his hands as a handful of kunai materialized into them "Cyber Kunai!" then he threw the tools which made their mark as some of the Mettaur were deleted with the rest charging at Naruto. He then crossed his middle and index fingers and created several shadow clones who then charged at the viruses before drawing out his chakra blade and joining in the fight as Lan and the rest watched awe at his skills.

"Whoa, dude is totally fighting like a ninja. I bet Gutsman and I can beat him with no sweat," said Dex.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that Dex, with that kind of skillset I doubt you'll even last a second especially if he were to start using battle chips and get the hang of them," said Yai.

"Yai is right, he's moving at speeds which I'm sure would put Chaud and Protoman on edge like when they went up against Lan and Megaman.

"I'm pretty sure that he would be more than a match for even the members of World Three," said Tory.

"But to think that a boy at his age could fight like that, it makes me wonder what sort of world he came from is like," said Dr. Hikari.

Naruto slashed one of Mettaur sheathing the chakra blade and leapt high into the air with a couple of shuriken materializing in his hands "Take this, Cyber Shuriken!" he unleashed a shower of throwing stars towards the ground below as it pelted the remaining Mettaur for them to disappeared. Then Naruto landed with a smirk on his face.

"What do you think of that Lan?" said Naruto.

"You're pretty strong Naruto, I'm loading the next batch of viruses so that I can tell the next step of virus busting," said Lan,

A seconds later another group of viruses appeared, these ones' appearance is that of a ball with eyes, stubby feet, needle-like arms and a lightning bolt protruding out of the back of their head.

"These guys are called Billies and they have the ability to shoot electric attacks so you better watch yourself if you don't want to get shocked,"

"Got it, so what's the next step?" asked Naruto as he focused on the viruses which were slowly approaching him.

"In a NetBattle or when virus busting, the operators send battle chips to their NetNavis which equips them with various weapons and defenses to help them defeat their opponents or NetNavis. I'm even about to send one over to you right now," Lan reached into his chip holster and took out a small chip which had a small picture on it "Shotgun battle chip in, download!" then he inserted the chip into the slot.

Naruto felt something flow into him as he saw his right hand and forearm glow white before morphing into a small hand cannon much to his surprise.

"Uh how do I use it?" asked Naruto confusedly, then he jumped away to avoid a jolt from one of the Billies.

"You simply take aim and then will it to fire," said Lan.

"Okay," Naruto pointed the hand cannon at the viruses and imagined in his mind that he's pulling an invisible trigger which seemed to have worked as the cannon began unleashed blue projectiles in a wide spread which took down a large number of viruses though there are still some left "Whoa, that's pretty cool,"

"There's more where that came from Naruto, I'm sending another battle chip to you. Cyber sword battle chip in, download!" said Lan before slotting in another chip which ejected the previous one.

Naruto saw his hand morph again this time into a sword hilt with a glowing blue blade "This shouldn't be any different from wielding my chakra blade or kunai," Naruto dashed forward as he slashed the viruses until there was none left in the cyberspace.

"There are other battle chips with many weapons or effects which will help you in battle, aside from that you're good to go. But you must be careful not to receive too much or you might get deleted which in other words killed," said Lan.

"I've gotten the gist of it so I'm all set now," said Naruto.

"Okay, I'm logging you out now," said Lan as he pulled out the plug and Naruto felt himself being transported back into the PET.

 **Music End**

[So what do you guys think?] asked Naruto.

"With you helping us, we'll definitely be able to get Megaman back," said Maylu.

"We really appreciate you helping us," said Yai.

"Yeah," said Tory.

[No problem, I'll be happy to help] said Naruto with a smile.

"Since you've gotten the hang of battling on the net, I've contacted Mr. Ayano and he'll soon be sending over the equipment that we need," said Dr. Hikari.

Meanwhile in another part of DenTech city, there is a complex which is known to many as SciLab. It is where all technological advancements like NetNavis and PETs had originated from and is also the workplace of Lan's father. As of now a group of scientist are attempting to gain access into the facility with the use of their hacking equipment which is currently connected to the control panel on the wall.

"How's it looking?" asked one of the scientist.

Another had been typing in many series of codes only to come with nothing as the panel continued to reject the codes and refuse access.

"I've got nothing, it's not accepting any of the override commands. Pharaohman seemed to have reprogrammed our security system to keep us out," the second scientist responded.

"I just got a call from Dr. Hikari, he's on his way here to help us with the situation," a third scientist spoke up while holding a cellphone.

On the road, a dark green van was heading in direction of SciLab. Inside were Lan and the gang while Dr. Hikari is currently before a computer with multiple monitors and typing away as fast as he could.

"Dad I've been wondering about what is so important about SciLab that Pharaohman would go there?" asked Lan.

[I'm kinda curious about it myself, Hikari-san] said Naruto.

"The thing is that Pharaohman targeted SciLab because that is where the Net was created, if he controls SciLab then he controls everything which has a connection to the net. And it is also where I created Megaman," said Dr. Hikari.

"Which explains why his frame is there," said Lan with a look of realization.

"As of now the system is lock, but I happen to know another way in. I should be able to get the NetNavis into SciLabs external jack-in terminal, once we located Megaman's frame then it will be up to you to upload his data,"

"You got it," said Lan looking determined.

"Dr. Hikari, we're almost at SciLabs," said Yai who was sitting at the passenger's seat.

"Very well then,"

Upon arriving at the complex, Dr. Hikari and the scientists had brought out the equipment from the van and set up an external link into the SciLabs network.

"I'm about to input the final code, is everyone ready?" asked Dr. Hikari.

"We're all set," Lan with the others nodding in affirmation.

"Then you're all clear to jack in,"

"Okay guys, let's do this!" said Lan as he took out the cord from his PET with the others doing the same "Jack-in! Naruto, Power up!"

"Jack-in! Roll, Power up!" said Maylu.

"Jack-in! Glyde, Power up!" said Yai.

"Jack-in! Gutsman, Power up!" said Dex.

"Jack-in! Iceman, Power up!" said Tori.

Naruto felt himself being transferred through the data stream and even sensed others close by as well, meanwhile Dr. Hikari was typing in the codes to hack open portal after portal for the NetNavis to go through.

"Get ready, once you all pass through the final portal then you'll be in the SciLab mainframe," said Dr. Hikari.

Naruto looked ahead to see himself heading towards a bright light and got ready for entry, then he opened his eyes and looked around to see that he was standing in some sort of desert.

"This must be Pharaohman's work," thought Naruto, then he heard someone approach from behind and turned to see that the NetNavis of Lan's friends had shown up.

The first is a female with her armor being a bodysuit-type with a mixture of the colors red, pink and black highlighting different parts of her body. Attached to her helmet is a pair of transparent, ribbon-like antennae that curve behind her when considered with the button on her backside which could give the appearance of a bunny, and she also has a long blonde ponytail with a green ribbon.

The second is a male with a large stature and muscular with the upper body hunched over to give the appearance of a gorilla. His armor is off a thick armor type with chest plate, gauntlets and boots being made of steel, and has a mixture of the colors yellow, red and black.

Third is a male who reaches the same height of the first with his armor being a bodysuit-type with a mixture of colors of gold, bronze, white and black highlighting different parts of his body with a pair of white wings at his back. Naruto got the feeling that this isn't much of a fighting type but rather that of a servant.

The last is a male who is very small and has a childlike appearance, he wears a mint green snow suit with white fleecy cuffs and ankles, and a matching winter hat on his head and wearing a pair of brown mittens and winter boots.

"It's nice to meet you, my name is Roll and Maylu is my operator," said the pink girl.

"My name Gutsman, Dex my operator," said the large guy.

"It is a pleasure to meet, my name is Glyde and Miss Yai happens to be my mistress and operator," said the tall man.

"The name's Iceman and Tory is my operator," said last one.

"It's nice to meet you all, the name's Naruto Uzumaki," said Naruto with a smile.

"I'm sending someone over who can help guide you to Megaman's frame," said Dr. Hikari as he types in a code before hitting the enter button.

Then Naruto and the others saw a hole appear before them and something popped out for them to see. It was a brown bipedal dog although it looked like it could walk on all fours as well and wears a red collar. The dog barked a few times before it jumped out of the hole which disappeared and leapt into Roll's arms and started to lick her cheeks which made her giggle.

"Aww, who's this little cutie?" asked Roll while cuddling the puppy.

"This here is Rush, I programmed the location of Megaman's frame into him so he'll be the one to lead you straight to it,"

"That dog is leader?" Gutsman grumbled.

"Got it, okay Rush lead the way," said Naruto,

Rush barked in response before jumping of Roll's arms and was walking ahead of them, the group proceeded to follow in hopes that they would locate the frame and restore Megaman before figuring out a plan to stop Pharaohman once and for all.

Meanwhile in the deepest part of the SciLab mainframe, there is a large pyramid and inside it a pair of glowing red eyes peered through the darkness and let out a dark chuckle.

"It seems like I have some trespassers in my kingdom, I might as enjoy their futile endeavors before ending their lives,"

* * *

 **This is Hussbek online with another chapter, Naruto has met Lan and the gang and wants to help them rebuild Megaman. Now that they've infiltrated the SciLab mainframe in search of the final component to restore Megaman, will they succeed in their mission and go up against the powerful Pharaohman? Stay tuned to find out.**

 **I've done a little research and will now display the possible harem candidates:**

 **Meddy EXE  
Iris EXE  
Jasmine  
Anetta  
Princess Pride**

 **There are two more blank spots which for are girls from a different anime/game. For a hint let's just say that it's up to fate.**

 **Notice: Naruto might get a cyber-companion(s). Read and Review as always.**

 **This is Hussbek from Ghana.**

 **Signing out.**


	3. Restoration and Dethroning a Tyrant

**Maelstrom EXE.**

"Normal speech"

" **Tailed Beast speech"**

[Talking from the PET]

 **Chapter 2: Restoration and Dethroning a Tyrant**

As they traveled through the cyberspace with Rush leading them towards their destination, Naruto and the gang looked around their surroundings in awe as well as disapproval of the place.

"Something tells me that the SciLab's cyberspace isn't supposed to look like this in the first place," said Naruto.

"Indeed it isn't Naruto, the cyberspace has been changed due to Pharaohman's influence. I speculate that defeating him will revert it back to normal," said Dr. Hikari.

"Yeah but first things first, we need to bring Megaman back," said Lan.

"No worries Lan, I did promise to help you get your buddy back," said Naruto.

"Thanks Naruto," Naruto simply gave him a foxlike grin.

"Hey! Don't forget that we're helping too," said Yai.

"Sorry about that Yai," said Lan sheepishly.

The group continued across the many sand dunes when suddenly something burst out from underneath the sands before diving back in. Naruto caught a glimpse and saw that it was fishlike in appearance with blue scales and fins, and swung its arms in a propeller-like fashion. There happened to be a group of them as they opened their mouths wide and tri-pronged arrows shot out towards them.

"Guys heads up!" Naruto dashed to position in front of them before drawing out his chakra blade, then he used it to deflect the incoming projectiles away from the group before the viruses dove back into the sand.

"Thanks for the help Naruto, those guys are piranha viruses and they can be pretty annoying," said Iceman.

"I can tell, we need to get them out of the sand before we can filet them," said Naruto, sheathing the blade although he noticed that it was glowing a bit.

"Don't worry guys, I got this. Guts Hammer battle chip in, download!" Dex slotted a chip into his PET.

"Guts Guuts!" Gutsman's hand glowed blue before morphing into a hammer, he raised it into the air before bringing it down to slam on the ground which discharged a shockwave powerful enough to flush out the piranha viruses and knock them into the air.

"Now's our chance, Glyde Cannon!" Glyde's hand transformed into an arm cannon and proceeded to shot at the virus.

"Use this Naruto! Shotgun battle chip in, download!" Lan quickly inserted a battle chip into the slot of the PET, then Naruto's arm morphed into an cannon which he took aim at his targets and opened fire, making their mark and successfully deleting the viruses "Awesome teamwork guys,"

"Thank you for the compliment," said Glyde.

"You too," said Gutsman.

"That was great, but you've got to keep moving. The longer you're there, the worst the attacks will be," said Dr. Hikari.

"Okay Hikari-san, we'll get moving then," said Naruto.

With that said, the group continued through the desert without any further encounters with viruses. Suddenly a voice spoke to Naruto from out of nowhere to his surprise and it seems like the others didn't hear it.

" **Even when you're in another dimension, you still manage to get yourself in crazy situations,"** said the voice.

" _W-who said that?"_ thought Naruto while looking around.

" **Who else do you think this is kit?"**

" _Kurama is that you? How are you able to talk to me like this?"_

" **I was able to slightly tweak the seal which will allow me to talk to you without me needing to bring you into the mindscape,"** said Kurama.

" _Sounds pretty convenient, guess that means you know what's going on then,"_

" **Yeah, this Pharaohman reminds me of those self-centered humans who think that the world revolves around them. Also I've noticed something else, it's about your chakra blade,"**

" _Now that you mention it, I've noticed that it glows whenever I use it,"_

" **I have reason to believe that you can channel your chakra into the blade to make it longer and sharper, and I also noticed that it absorbs a small amount of your chakra and stores it away,"**

" _Is it something harmful?"_ asked Naruto.

" **I doubt it since the blade was created for you when you arrived in this dimension like the rest of your gear,"**

" _Got it, we'll figure it out as we move on,"_ Naruto snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Iceman speak out.

"Hey guys, what's that heading this way?" asked Iceman.

They all looked ahead to see large tornadoes of sand moving straight towards them.

"It's a sandstorm, and a rather big one. But where could it have come from?" said Roll confusedly.

"I don't know but brace yourselves!" shouted Naruto.

Everyone laid on the ground and prepared to endure the incoming storm as the violent winds carrying clouds of dust or sand passed through them.

"This is quite the predicament, we can barely do a thing with this sandstorm in the way," said Glyde.

"But there has to be something we can do, I can't help but feel helpless here," said Roll, suddenly Rush squirmed out of her grip and took a few steps forward "Rush where are you going?"

A black hole appeared before Rush and then a Mettaur popped out of it much to their surprise since it didn't attack them immediately.

"How is he able to do that?" said Iceman confusedly.

"They must understand each other," said Glyde.

"That must be Rush's friend if it didn't attack us like the other viruses," said Naruto.

"Gutsman confused," said Gutsman.

"It looks like our canine friend here has a plan," said Roll, Rush barked in affirmation before jumping into the hole with the Mettaur as it closed up.

Another hole opened up elsewhere for Rush to jump out of, then he found himself standing behind a group of viruses. They resembled large red industrial fans on four legs with wing-like fins, and have odd switch mechanisms jutting from their backs. These viruses are known as Fanners, and they're currently ones being the cause of the sandstorm as the fans are spinning at high speed.

Rush barked a few times and Mettaur started to pop out of the hole one after the other before positioning themselves behind the Fanners, Rush barked once more as if commanding to attack with the Mettaur bringing their pickaxes down on the ground to create shockwaves that raced towards the Fanners which took them down. Without them producing the violent winds, the sandstorm dissipated much to the relief of Naruto and the others with Rush running towards them after sending away his virus friends.

"Thanks for the help buddy," said Naruto.

"Good boy Rush, you were amazing," said Roll.

"Hey Naruto, can you hear me?" asked Lan.

"Yeah what's up?" asked Naruto.

"We had lost communication with you when that sandstorm hit, now that it's gone the communication is back online," said Dr. Hikari.

"We have Rush to thank for dealing with our weather problem so we're good to go," said Naruto.

"That's good, cause you still have a long way to go,"

Then the group resumed their journey until stopping before some sort of ancient ruins where they saw a staircase which led downwards. They descended down the stairs as it led them deeper inside until entering an underground passage.

"I think that this might be it," said Glyde, he was correct with that statement as they stopped before a metallic door with Rush barking at them.

"Hikari-san, have we come to the right place?" asked Naruto.

"Yes Megaman's frame is right behind that door," said Dr. Hikari, everyone let out a cheer upon hearing that.

"In that case, I'll run a scan and decode the password," Glyde walked up to a control panel next to the door and tapped the keypad a few times "That's quite strange, it is a one digit passcode," he pressed a button and the doors slid open with a bright light temporarily blinding them as they entered.

Inside, Naruto and the others heard Rush barking and turned to see the puppy standing in front of a large glass capsule where blue blocks of data moved around inside of it.

"I'm guessing that's the frame," said Lan.

"Yes and it seems to be in good condition, now's the time to reinstall Megaman's data. But first we'll have to sever the link between Naruto and your PET," said Dr. Hikari.

"Well Naruto, it was fun while it lasted," said Lan.

"Yeah, maybe next time," said Naruto.

"Actually, Naruto reminded me of a certain project which we worked on a year in SciLabs but was put on suspension due to certain issues but with Naruto's unique status, I'm sure that he can utilize it to its full potential," said Dr. Hikari.

"What's the project about dad?" asked Lan curiously.

"We can talk about it later, after all this is over," Dr. Hikari pressed a few buttons on Lan's PET before a beep is heard, then he pulled out the plug as Naruto remained where he is without returning to the PET "There, it's been done. Now you can jack-in with Megaman now,"

"Okay dad, jack in Megaman, power up!" Lan plugged in his PET once again with the emblem disappearing as it's being transferred into the frame.

"That's good, now all we have to do is wait for the frame blocks to reconfigure,"

Everyone watched as the blue blocks shifted and merged together before slowly taking on a humanoid shape and becoming clearer in detail until finally showing a form familiar to Lan and the others but new to Naruto.

"So this guy is Megaman," said Naruto as he marveled at the restored NetNavi.

He wears an indigo bodysuit with cyan stripes running down his sides and ending at his blue boots which are tipped with black soles. He has two yellow shoulders guards and wears a blue helmet with two ridges running along the top before coming to a stop at the base. Naruto speculated that he has dark hair which is sticking out in four spikes, however he took note that the emblems are completely blacked out.

"It seems like he's sleeping, hey Megaman! Wake up!" Lan called out but received no response.

"Megaman's frame is quite complex, it has to defragment itself before becoming fully operational," said Dr. Hikari.

"But how long is that going to take?" asked Dex.

"I'm not sure but we're just going to have to give him some time,"

"Time which I'm sure we don't have, I get the feeling that Pharaohman knows we're here," said Naruto.

"Gutsman feels nervous when you say that now," said Gutsman.

Suddenly the room began to quake and the glass on the capsule had cracks on it while everyone tried to keep their balance.

"What on earth is that?" said Iceman worriedly.

" **Kit, I sense a powerful source heading this way,"** said Kurama.

Then they heard dark chuckling and looked to see a hologram of someone resembling an Egyptian sarcophagus with wings on his back and his arms crossed.

"That's Pharaohman!" said Lan.

"So this guy is the source of all this trouble," said Naruto, his hand inching towards his chakra blade.

"You fools actually thought that you sneak into my kingdom to rescue this pathetic NetNavi, I might as well show you the futility of challenging me. Grovel before the supremacy of Pharaohman!" said the evil solo NetNavi.

The quaking got worse and the room suddenly transformed into an underground cave, the glass capsule tipped over and crashed leaving Megaman prone on the ground.

"Oh no, Megaman!" said Lan worriedly.

Things got worse as a long crack formed between them and broke open to reveal a ravine where one can't even see the bottom. Roll was about to move towards Megaman when Gutsman grabbed her by the arm to hold her back.

"Roll stop!" said Gutsman.

"But I have to help him!" Roll protested.

"No Roll will get hurt, Gutsman can't let that happen!"

Naruto stepped forward "I'll get him, we've come too far just to back down now," He quickly dashed forward and once he got to the edge, he pumped chakra to his feet to boost his leap across the ravine and managed to land on the other side. Naruto ran over to Megaman and carried him over his shoulder.

"Naruto hurry, the place is going to collapse any minute from now!" shouted Glyde.

"Hang on, I'm coming!" Naruto took a few steps back before running forward and taking another leap to the other side, he was halfway through the jump when he heard Roll call out to him in alarm.

"Naruto watch out, above you!" she yelled.

Naruto sharply looked up only to see a large boulder falling from above before it crashed into them, plummeting them into the dark abyss below much to the others horror.

"Naruto, Megaman!" Roll called out in despair, unaware that another boulder was falling towards her.

"Roll get out of the way!" Gutsman rushed forward and caught the boulder but could barely hold it up.

"Gutsman, what are you doing?!"

"Glyde, Iceman…get Roll out of here…can't hold rock back…much longer!" said Gutsman.

"We've got to get out of here!" Iceman grabbed Roll's arm and pulled her away despite protest.

"But we can't leave him here!" said Roll.

"You have to go…Gutsman done anyway…goodbye Roll…sorry Dex," Gutsman finally gave in to the weight of the boulder and got crushed underneath in blue pixels.

"Gutsman noooo!" yelled Dex amidst tears.

"Megaman! Naruto, can you hear us?! Please respond!" Lan called out through his PET and received nothing but static.

"First Megaman, then Naruto and now Gutsman? This isn't fair!" said Yai sadly.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! All shall fall before the might of the ultimate NetNavi!" Pharaohman laughed out loud before the hologram faded away.

Roll, Glyde and Iceman ran through the tunnel and back up the staircase before finally making it back to the surface before turning around to look back and remember what had just happened.

"We came all this way only to lose two more of our friends…this bites much more than a frostbite," Iceman spoke sadly.

"It appears that your rescue mission has failed," everyone turned in anger to the source of the voice and saw a slight distortion in the atmosphere before it cleared to reveal Pharaohman "Now bow before me,"

"We're not bowing to anyone! Especially you!" Roll yelled angrily.

"You fools, for defying the power of Pharaohman, you shall share the same fate of your fallen comrades," said Pharaohman, he sensed something moving towards him at high-speed and willed an obelisk to rise from underground as it blocked the projectile which exploded upon impact "Now who dares to invade my sacred ground?"

"That would be us," Everyone turned to look up the top of a tall hill, Roll and others instantly recognized who they are.

The first is a humanoid NetNavi bearing chest armor, armguards and boots which are all colored orange, his faceguard protrude forwards away from the face and the helmet bearing a thick ridge from the top all the way to the base. What is mostly noted would be the black spherical shaped bombs with lit fuses attached to the shoulders and the emblem on his chest depicts an explosion.

The second NetNavi appears to be some sort of rock golem with most of his body detached, the cylindrical arms float near each side of the rectangular shaped body and the feet in the shape of ellipses position underneath both of them and his emblem depicts a white cube.

The most surprising thing is that both NetNavis each have a multitude of clones by their side.

"It's Bombman and Stoneman!" said Iceman in surprise.

"I wish to extend my congrats, cause you're going to be Dr. Wily's ultimate NetNavi," said Bombman.

"How dare you! I am ruled by no one!" said Pharaohman angrily.

"Well my friends and I say that you're wrong, oh great one,"

"Then you and your friends shall pay the ultimate price,"

* * *

Meanwhile Naruto and Megaman are currently falling down a pit and are yet to reach the bottom of the abyss.

"And here I thought that I would never have to experience this again, ever since Pervy Sage threw me off the cliff the first time!" shouted Naruto.

" **And this time there are no toads for you to summon so you better think of something fast kit!"** said Kurama.

"I know, I'm making it up as I go!" Naruto thought quickly, then he grabbed Megaman in one arm and took out the chakra blade. He channeled chakra to the blade and the soles of his sandals. He angled himself towards one of the walls before stabbing the blade and digging his feet onto the walls. Sparks flew from the blade and Naruto struggled to maintain his grips on both Megaman and the blade as the speed of the descent was slightly reduced.

"I hope I don't tear my arm out from this," Naruto grunted out as they slid down in at much more comfortable speeds.

" **You better hold for a little while longer, we'll be sure to arrive at the bottom soon,"** said Kurama to which Naruto simply grunted in affirmation.

Sure enough, they finally reached the bottom of the hole as Naruto dropped out of it and landed on a rock ledge before setting Megaman down and massaged his mildly sore arm.

"Now that we finally reach the bottom, we need to figure out a way to get back to the surface and meet up with the others…it feels like an over in here," Naruto looked around and his eyes widened in surprise upon what his surroundings comprised of. At this moment, Naruto and Megaman are on a ledge with rivers of hot lava flowing below "I think we literally fell out of the frying pan and into the fire,"

" **If you're done making witty comments, you better get off the ledge before you both fall into the lava and get cooked which includes me!"** said Kurama.

"I know that, we all want to stay alive!" Naruto picked up Megaman and leapt off the ledge right before it collapsed and fell into the lava, melting from the intense heat.

* * *

Back with Roll and her friends, they watched with apprehension as the clones of Bombman and Stoneman had them along with Pharaohman completely surrounded with their attacks at the ready. Elsewhere in hidden base, an old man watches everything on a holographic screen with eyes of greed and smiled evilly. This man is none other than Dr. Wily who is the leader of WWW, an evil crime syndicate set on taking over the world through the internet.

"This is perfect! Not only will I soon be the master of the ultimate NetNavi but I can also get rid of those pesky NetNavis. You may now attack," said Dr. Wily evilly.

"Attack!" Bombman and Stoneman shouted at the same time.

"Guys, get them out of there!" said Lan.

"Area Steal battle chip in, download!" Maylu, Yai and Tori inserted the chips in simultaneously.

The three NetNavis warped out of the way right as the Bombman copies fired missiles and the Stoneman copies launched laser beams at Pharaohman who would have smirked if he had a mouth.

"You fools dare to believe that you could defeat me?" said Pharaohman, the incoming attacks landed on their target which resulted in a massive explosion.

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall," said Bombman.

"That doesn't look good," said Iceman.

Roll and the others watched from a safe distance in surprise at what had just happened.

"I doubt that even Pharaohman would have survived an attack of that magnitude," said Glyde.

The smoke from the explosion cleared only to reveal Pharaohman encased in a blue barrier without so much as a scratch on him and laughing darkly much to the shock of everyone watching.

"How invigorating, now I will teach you the true meaning of supreme power!" a small ball of yellow light appeared of Pharaohman before firing a laser beam which spun around in a full 360 degrees. Bombman and Stoneman quickly moved out of the way but their copies weren't lucky as they all got deleted from the attack "Bow before me you pathetic weaklings,"

"Won't this guy go down?!" said Stoneman fearfully.

"I'm out of here!" said Bombman, both NetNavis immediately logged out of there.

"Everyone, you need to get out of there now!" said Dr. Hikari.

Roll and the others complied as they ran across the desert and away from Pharaohman, but then something burst out of the sand in front of them and it was revealed to be a gray sarcophagus.

"Now what is he up too?" said Roll.

Suddenly the eyes of the statue flashed brightly, turning Glyde into a stone statue.

"I give you eternal life as a statue," said Pharaohman darkly.

"Oh no, Glyde!" said Iceman.

"Hurry out of there!" Maylu called out, but she was too late with her warning as the sarcophagus flashed once more turning them into stone statues.

"Our NetNavis…" Yai spoke sadly with the others feeling the same way.

"If only Megaman were here, I'm sure that even Naruto is still alive to help us like he promised," said Lan.

"Hold on…I'm getting reading that there are three Navis on the Net and they're heading for the SciLabs security system," said Dr. Hikari.

"But why there?" asked Lan.

"I think I know what they're up to, I can guess that they seek to access the SciLabs main computer and shut down which will in turn stop Pharaohman in his tracks,"

"I get it now, and it might be just the thing to help bring Megaman and Naruto back,"

"Then let's lend them a helping hand," Dr. Hikari tapped rapidly on the keyboard in order to put up a communication line to the three unknown Navis.

* * *

Naruto was currently running along the cliff walls with chakra emitting from his soles before jumping off and landing on another ledge and frantically looked around.

"What was that all about? One moment everything went black before going back to normal?" said Naruto confusedly.

" **I don't know kid, but haven't you found a way out yet?"** asked Kurama.

"So far my best idea is to use the Rasengan to burrow our way back up to the surface," said Naruto.

" **Then hurry, as of now we don't know what's going on and need to find out what happened,"**

Naruto landed on a much more stable ledge and was about to put Megaman down before creating some shadow clones for his next plan of action when there was a sudden rumbling coming from the cave's ceiling, then a red spinning tornado burst through and landed on a ledge nearby before dissipating to reveal a NetNavi.

This NetNavi dons red chest armor, gloves, and boots. He wears a stylized helmet with a black visor, a white faceguard, and a white circle surrounding a horn protruding from the top while long silver hair reaching the waist flows out from the base of the helmet. The NetNavi's emblem depicts a circle split with a thunderbolt pattern into two black and white sections which can be seen on his chest and gloves.

"Who are you?" asked Naruto feeling a bit tense.

"The name's Protoman," said the red Navi.

Naruto's eyed widened in recognition "Protoman? You must be the Navi who went up against Megaman in the N1 Grand Prix and he sacrificed himself to save you,"

Protoman nodded in affirmation "Yeah I owe him, if it weren't for the kid I wouldn't be here. Which brings me to ask who are you?"

"The name's Naruto Uzumaki but let's save the rest for later and focus on getting out of here,"

"Okay then this way," Protoman crossed his arms and started spinning quickly to form the red tornado again before rising towards the ceiling ad drilling through, Naruto carrying Megaman leapt through the hole after him as they ascended until finally reaching the surface.

"Good one Protoman, but can you tell what's going on since I fell down the pit?"

"A few minutes ago, Dr. Hikari and a trio of NetNavis had shut down the power of the SciLabs main computer. They succeeded but Pharaohman managed to start it back up and now he commandeered a SciLabs satellite and set it on a crash course towards which could possibly killed hundreds of civilians and we only have ten minutes before impact,"

" **That Navi has definitely gone mad with power…just like Uchiha Madara,"** Kurama growled angrily at the memory.

"Then we need to take him down quickly," said Naruto.

"Protoman…and the unknown NetNavi," Naruto and Protoman traced Pharaohman's voice to a black pyramid just a short distance away.

"As much as I don't want to leave Megaman behind, we have no time to lose!" Naruto drew out his chakra blade.

"Let's go you two, long sword battle chip in, download!" a boy's voice rang out before Protoman's right arm morphed into a sword hilt with a glowing red blade.

Both looked at each other and nodded at the same time before dashing towards the pyramid, an army of viruses being Piranhas, Flappies, Handies and Megalians appeared and charged at them.

"Get out of our way, Cyber Shuriken!" Naruto conjured a handful of the throwing stars and flung them at the viruses deleting them while Protoman weaved in and out of the way and slashing the rest into pixels with Naruto soon joining in with his chakra blade which was glowing even brighter than before. Naruto flipped into the air and as if driven by instinct actually threw the chakra blade which cut through more of the viruses before returning to him like a boomerang as he caught it by the handle.

"Whoa that was pretty cool, never thought it could do that," Naruto murmured, looking at the blade in awe.

" **Don't get distracted kit, we're running against the clock here!"** said Kurama.

"Oh right, sorry about that,"

The duo dashed up a long flight of stairs all the while deleting any viruses that stood in their until reaching the top where they ran through a hallway before entering what seems to be a throne room cause they're seeing Pharaohman standing on a slightly raised platform at the center of the room.

"Well done, there's something very special about the two of you…especially you," said Pharaohman looking at Naruto "I can sense immense power within you,"

"I know where you're going with this so let me just tell you that there's no way that I'll be joining you in your crazy ambitions," said Naruto.

"The same could be said for me," said Protoman.

"Why throw away such a golden opportunity and face me when you know that I could so easily defeat you," said Pharaohman.

 **Music Start: Megaman Battle Network OST; Net Battle**

"You'll never know unless you try, Cyber Kunai!" Naruto conjured a handful of said weapons and threw them at Pharaohman.

"Pathetic," Pharaohman's eyes glowed for a moment then the kunai froze in midair before turning around and shot back at Naruto and Protoman much to their surprise before deflecting with a kunai and long sword respectively.

Protoman dashed forward and swung his sword at Pharaohman, but it seems like it impacted on some sort of invisible barrier before being blown back and crashing on the ground with a pained grunt.

"Look, it's Protoman and Naruto!" said Maylu as she and the others watched from the monitors.

"And they're taking on Pharaohman!" said Tori.

"We all know how strong Protoman is, but I'm worried about Naruto since he's no longer connected to my PET so I can't send any battle chips to him," said Lan.

Naruto ran in as he crossed his middle and index fingers and called out "Shadow Clone jutsu!" there were several puffs of smoke before it cleared away to reveal a squad of clones who ran alongside the original. The first two clones pulled ahead of the others while creating kunai in each hand and lashed out at Pharaohman, another pair of clones leapt high into the air and flung a barrage of shuriken.

"Be gone you annoying insects," Pharaohman unleashed a yellow shockwave that impacted with the clones and sent them crashing into walls before disappearing in puffs of smoke "None of your petty attacks can touch me,"

"Fire Sword battle chip in, download!" the unknown boy slotted a chip into his PET, Protoman's blade changed into an orange one and heat could be felt radiating from it.

Protoman dashed forward once more and slashed at Pharaohman only to hit another barrier, he refused to back down by repeatedly slashing the barrier but was unable to leave so much as a scratch on it "Dammit, I can't break through it!"

"One side Protoman, I'm coming in!" Protoman turned around and saw Naruto along with a clone running towards them. The thing is that Naruto appears to be holding a blue spinning ball in the palm if his hand while the clone wove its hands around it, Protoman was momentarily stunned at the sight but complied nonetheless as he leapt to the side right as Naruto drew close "Let's see your barrier block this, Rasengan!" the clone disappeared into a puff of smoke as he thrust the spinning sphere forward and made contact with the barrier. At first nothing happened but Pharaohman's eyes widened upon seeing cracks appearing with Naruto pushing harder to break.

"Whoa that small ball is actually breaking through Pharaohman's barrier, they should be able win this!" said Dex.

"Maybe so but they only have five minutes until the satellite crashes into DenTech city," said Dr. Hikari.

"Protoman, get ready to attack once he breaks through the barrier!" said the boy.

"Got it!" said Protoman in affirmation.

More cracks had appeared on the barrier with Naruto almost breaking through when Pharaohman glared at him before thrusting his arms forward to unleash another shockwave, knocking Naruto back away from as he recovered in midair and skidded backwards before stopping next to Protoman.

"You worms shall see how weak you are compared to me!" said Pharaohman, then his eyes glowed bit before beams shot out towards them. Naruto and Protoman dodged left and right to avoid the beams as they destroyed the pillars and walls around them. Suddenly Pharaohman sensed something moving towards him from behind and emitted a pulse of energy to deflect it, it turns out to be the chakra blade which ricocheted from the impacted and was sent flying back to Naruto who caught it with a frown.

"Dammit, I thought I could get him from behind without him being aware," Naruto growled in frustration.

"And we're running out of time," said Protoman.

Then Pharaohman levitated before them laughing all the way "I'm impressed since you both lasted longer than I thought, consider it an honor to be deleted by me," he prepared to launch another one of his attacks when suddenly a beam shot between them without warning.

"Back off," a voice spoke out, everyone turned to see a black human shaped silhouette standing on the opening of a large hole.

"Who are you?!" Pharaohman demanded.

"Maybe this will refresh your memory," the dark silhouette leapt off the hole and landed close, allowing everyone to see much clearly and recognize who it is "I'm back,"

"It's Megaman!" said Protoman in surprise.

"It's about time you woke up sleeping beauty," Naruto smirked.

"But how?! I deleted you!" shouted Pharaohman.

"I think it's time for a little payback, Protoman let's show him what we can do," said Megaman.

"What do you mean?" asked Protoman.

"He means the double Program Advance," said the boy.

"Yeah, what do you say Chaud?" asked Lan through the PET.

"Sounds like a plan," the boy now known as Chaud replied.

"Might as well stand back and enjoy the show, but I'll be there to back you guys up just in case," said Naruto before taking a few steps back

"Program Advance!" Lan, Chaud along with their NetNavis spoke at the same time.

"Cyber Sword battle chip in, download!" both boys slotted the same chip with Megaman and Protoman's right arms morphing into blades.

"Wide Sword battle chip in, download!" this time it was their left arms transforming into a blade with a wide hilt.

"Long Sword battle chip in, download!" then they raised both blades into the air as they merged into a single purple blade.

" **That's quite interesting, merging three techniques into a single attack must be what the Program Advance is about,"** said Kurama.

" _I can't wait to do something like that,"_ thought Naruto.

"I'll delete you all for good!" Pharaohman held his arms forward before firing a large beam of energy at them.

"Hah I don't think so!" Megaman and Protoman swung their attacks as they launched forward and sliced through the beam and slammed into Pharaohman engulfing him in a bright light much to his shock.

"Noooooooooooooo!" Pharaohman cried out in agony.

 **Music End**

Suddenly the whole place began to quake and bits of rocks fell from the ceiling.

"Hey guys, the place is going down so we better get out of here!" said Naruto.

"Okay, let's go!" said Megaman,

Then the trio ran out of the pyramid and made it out before the whole place completely collapsed, it was at that moment when all the system in SciLabs became accessible once more with Pharaohman's interference.

"Now to stop that satellite!" Dr. Hikari tapped rapidly on the computer and everybody watched as the monitor displaying the earth's atmosphere showing that the satellite slowed to a stop before returning to orbit much to everyone's joy.

In the SciLabs cyberspace, the group watched the sands disappear from their surroundings signifying that everything was going back to the way it was before.

"Looks like everything getting back to normal," said Naruto.

"Yeah, by the way I haven't thanked you and Protoman for saving me back there, I owe you one," said Megaman.

"It was nothing, I just wanted to help," said Naruto with a foxy grin.

"You don't owe me anything, I was just doing what I was told to do," said Protoman.

"Megaman, I'm so glad that you're back!" said Lan happily, he and the others had entered the SciLabs completely for him to jack-in.

"Hey, I'm happy to be back thanks to all of you," said Megaman.

"Since we're all done here, let's get out of-," Naruto began to speak, then something burst out of the rubble from behind them, they turned around only to be shocked to see Pharaohman hovering above them "What is it about bad guys and their tendency to not stay down for long periods of time?"

"I wonder about that sometimes," said Megaman.

"Hahahahaha, nice try but it will take more than that to defeat me," said Pharaohman haughtily.

Then some sort of black hole appeared in the sky above as two beams of light descended and faded away to revealed Bombman and Stoneman.

"He's been weakened, take him now!" said Dr. Wily gleefully, Bombman and Stoneman held their arms as ropes made out of blue data shot out from them and wound around Pharaohman then rose up towards the black hole "Come to me Pharaohman!"

"No wait!" Megaman leapt into the black hole in pursuit.

"Hold up Megaman!" Naruto also jumped inside as well.

"Where did they go?" asked Dex.

"I don't know," said Lan.

* * *

Megaman and Naruto found themselves standing in an unknown cyberspace, neither of them had any time think as they quickly leapt out of the way to avoid a giant cube made of stone.

"You brats have made a big mistake coming here," said Stoneman.

"I hope you're ready to be blown away," said Bombman.

In the hallway of the hideout, Dr. Wily looked greedily at the hologram of Pharaohman "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Dr. Wily and I have an offer to make. Swear your eternal allegiance to me and I will restored your corrupted data,"

"What? You expect me to bow to the whims of a lowly human?! Never!" said Pharaohman angrily.

"You may be the ultimate program but you're still only a NetNavi, your true power can only if you serve under me so do as I command!"

"Never!"

Meanwhile Naruto and Megaman were avoiding large rocks from Stoneman and bombs from Bombman with Naruto using the cyber shuriken to take them out from a distance and attacking back with the cyber kunai, and Megaman is using his Megabuster to fight back.

"I hope that you get a kick out of this!" Bombman did just as he launched his bombs straight at them.

"Cyber Shuriken plus Chakra Blade Boomerang!" Naruto conjured a handful of throwing stars before drawing out his chakra blade and throwing them together. The projectiles were able to take out the bombs while the spinning blade sped forward and inflicted a cut on Bombman's torso before returning into Naruto's grip. He wanted to follow up with his clones and get close but the bombs would keep them at bay "Kurama, can I use your chakra to take them down even if just a little?"

" **Not yet, remember that you're still recovering from the dimensional rift so you're on your own,"** said Kurama.

"Darn it there's gotta be something I can use to turn the tide,"

"We have a problem, I can't download any battle chips from here to help them out," said Lan worriedly along with the others.

"There's no need to worry just activate the Style Change," said Dr. Hikari.

"Style Change?"

"It's a program that will increase his strength without battle chips, just punch in the new data command,"

Lan did as instructed then a red symbol appeared on the screen of his PET and he pressed a button to start up the program "HeatGuts Style activate!"

A red dome appeared around Megaman, causing everyone to look at him then it faded away to reveal Megaman in a different form. His blue bodysuit had changed to red and there is a large fist attached to his right arm.

"Whoa, you can really make someone say 'ow' with that arm," said Naruto with a smirk.

"Yeah baby, I can't wait to try this thing!" said Megaman.

"Get crushed you little pipsqueak, Rock Cube!" Stoneman raised his arms into the air as a large cubical rock appeared before being launched at Megaman who reared his large fist back and thrust forward with a straight punch which shattered it much to Stoneman's shock.

" **Hey kit, there's something up with your blade,"** said Kurama.

Naruto looked at the chakra blade in his hand and noticed that the Konoha symbol was glowing, feeling a bit curious he tapped on the symbol only for the blade to suddenly surge with chakra as it took on the form of an elongated sword.

"What's going on?" asked Naruto confusedly.

" **It seems like the blade is releasing all of the chakra it had absorbed to the point of overflowing,"** said Kurama.

"Overflowing huh…I think that's what I'll call it…the Overflow state," Naruto smirked.

"So what that your sword is doing weird stuff, that doesn't change anything!" Bombman launched a barrage of bombs from his shoulders at his opponent.

Naruto turned around and swung his blade which launched a wave of chakra that sliced through all of the bombs before continuing onwards to cut off Bombman's arm much to his shock as data leaked out of it "Yes it does," he swung rapidly to fire a barrage of waves to slice off the remaining limbs then gripping the chakra blade with both hands and rearing back "Take this, Overslash!" he swung it forward to launch a large wave of chakra that completely engulfed Bombman and instantly deleted him. Naruto looked at the blade to see that it is back to the way it was "I guess that new technique uses all of the chakra stored within, better keep that in mind,"

Megaman was currently giving Stoneman a really hard time in their battle "Time to end this!" then his right arm morphed into a long rectangular white cannon, it charged up in a matter of seconds before firing a massive beam that obliterated Stoneman from the cyberspace.

" _I_ am the king of the Cybernet, I will rule the entire universe!" shouted Pharaohman.

"I _will_ control you, you're a Navi!" said Dr. Wily.

"No human will ever control me, I'd rather be deleted! Then so be it!" Pharaohman's eyes glowed brightly then all of the equipment exploded, completely destroying the hideout with Dr. Wily still inside of it.

A beam of light landed in the SciLabs cyberspace to reveal that Megaman and Naruto had returned from wherever they had come from.

"Looks like we made it back," said Naruto.

"Yeah, that's relief," said Megaman.

"Megaman!" they turned to see Roll, Iceman and Glyde running towards them with smiles on their faces. Roll ran up to him and gave him a hug, he was a bit surprised at first but responded with his own.

"I'm so glad that you're okay," said Roll.

"Thanks Roll," said Megaman with a tinge of pink on his face while Naruto looked with a smile on his face.

"Hey don't forget about me," said Gutsman walking up to them with a crutch and bandages on his right leg and around his chest.

"Gutsman is back too," said Roll happily.

"Everyone is okay," said Glyde.

"I guess this means mission accomplished," said Naruto.

"You got that right Naruto," said Lan.

"Stick around Naruto, you'll definitely have a lot of fun with us," said Dex.

"And I wish to learn more about you," said Dr. Hikari.

"Sure I wouldn't mind hanging out with you," said Naruto with a foxy grin.

Kurama watched all of this with a smile on his before closing his eyes to **sleep "Something tells me that we're in for a lot of adventures with these people. I hope that you enjoy your restart in this new world kit,"**

* * *

 **This is Hussbek online with another chapter, I'm sorry about the delay and I hope that this chapter is worth the wait. I haven't gotten a few messages about putting Anetta in the harem so I'm considering whether to replace her with either Sal or Miu but you could suggest another character too. At the moment Naruto would gain a temporary method of being in the real world (Remember that Rush hasn't come into the real world yet) before gaining a more permanent way of shifting between the cyberspace and the real world. For those who don't know yet, I'm following the Anime storyline though I might borrow a bit from the games from time to time.**

 **Again here's the list with the possible harem candidates  
**

 **Jasmine**  
 **Meddy exe**  
 **Iris exe**  
 **Anetta**  
 **Princess Pride**  
 **x**  
 **x**

 **The remaining two blank spots are girls from a different anime/game. For a hint let's just say that it's up to fate.**

 **Possible additions are  
Miu  
Sal  
Shuko  
Mary Towa**

 **This is Hussbek from Ghana.**

 **Signing out**


	4. A Tour Offline

**Maelstrom EXE.**

"Normal speech"

" **Tailed Beast speech"**

[Talking from the PET]

 **Chapter 2: A Tour Offline**

It has been over a week since the incident with Pharaohman and the supposed end of World Three, Lan and his friends decided to take a break for some time to cool off. Naruto was kept over at SciLabs and Dr. Hikari would frequently visits to ask him a lot of questions about his old world and especially about the energy that he possesses.

With Kurama's help, Naruto told him about how chakra is formed by combining spiritual energy and physical energy together through the chakra coils within their bodies, once formed it could be utilized to perform numerous techniques much to the surprise of Dr. Hikari after being told of the serious lack of technology in the elemental nations.

A couple of days later, Lan and the others got a call from Dr. Hikari to come over to SciLabs in order to show them something. The group of friends were currently riding in Yai's limo towards their destination.

"What do you guys suppose Lan's father wants to show us?" asked Dex.

"It might have something to do with Naruto and that postponed project that he spoke about earlier," said Maylu.

[Well we haven't seen Naruto since then] said Megaman.

[Indeed, I was hoping to hold a conversation with him] said Glyde.

"Well you guys aren't the only ones, I'm curious about the kind of training he underwent to get that good," said Lan.

"It's way different from the ninjas that we know of from TV and books," said Tory.

Soon they had arrived at the entrance of SciLabs and got out of the limo, however it seemed that someone was standing at the gates as if waiting for them. It's a boy with straight black and white hair that hangs down on his forehead, he wears a red sleeveless jacket over a long-sleeved shirt with yellow collar and lower half, and he also wears long pants with green camouflage pattern and a pair of black shoes. Apparently the group are quite familiar with the boy.

"Chaud? What are you doing here?" asked Lan who looked surprised.

"It's about time you guys got here, I received a call from Dr. Hikari inviting me to come over to see something. Personally I wanted to meet the new NetNavi Naruto," said Chaud.

[Well we got the same message too, so let's go inside] said Megaman.

With Chaud in tow, the group entered the building through the lobby where the receptionist gave them directions for them to follow with lead them into a laboratory where inside was Dr. Hikari who was rapidly typing away on a large mainframe computer and there happens to be a PET docked on a table next to him. Upon hearing the door open, Dr. Hikari swiveled on his rotating chair to greet with a smile.

"Welcome to my lab everyone," said Dr. Hikari.

"Hi dad, say where's Naruto?" asked Lan curiously.

At his question, the docked PET activated and the menu opened up to show Naruto smiling happily at them.

[Hey guys, long time no see. And who's that with you? I haven't met him before] said Naruto before at Chaud curiously.

"Oh this is Chaud, he's Protoman's NetOp," said Lan.

[Oh then that means Protoman's your NetNavi, I gotta say that he's a pretty strong guy]

[I can vouch for that] said Megaman.

"Thanks for the compliment," said Chaud with a smug smile.

"So what was it that you invited us over to see Dr. Hikari?" said Maylu.

"Remember when I spoke of a certain project which was suspended a year ago due to certain issues? Well the purpose of the project is to bring a NetNavi into the real world," said Dr. Hikari much to the surprise of everyone around him.

"You mean that NetNavis would be actually brought out of the cyber world and walk among us?" asked Lan.

"In a way yes, but they wouldn't be able to use battle chips or consume food for that matter,"

Dr. Hikari walked over to a safe and dialed in the passcode for it to unlock, then he took out a box which he carried over to the table. Then he opened it to reveal a silver bracelet with what appears to be a small azure gem **(Refer to BakuColars from Bakugan Mechtanium Surge)**.

"The way it works is that you plug into the bracelet which transfers the consciousness of the NetNavi into it, then the bracelet creates a physical holographic body for the NetNavi to move around in, something that we call the Holobody,"

"That is quite impressive," said Chaud.

"But then what was the problem that caused the project to be suspended?" asked Tory.

"It is the matter of energy consumption, the bracelet requires a lot of power for it to work. The first time we tried it, the NetNavi could only last for five minutes before being transferred back to his PET. We used many energy sources like electricity, solar power and even kinetic energy but all were not enough and money consuming," said Dr. Hikari.

"That really sounds like a serious problem since the duration of the Holobody is too short, but how does this involve Naruto?" said Yai.

"After much examination, I learnt that chakra is a greater source of energy much more than the ones we know so I modified the cable for it to also transfer the energy from his PET to the bracelet," said Dr. Hikari.

[Yeah, and it will be like creating a shadow clone for myself to possess except that it won't disappear with a single hit and I can't eat or drink much to my disappointment. I was craving for some ramen] said Naruto, feeling depressed at the last sentence.

"Don't let it get you down Naruto, I'm sure that dad would find a way to bring you into the real world," said Lan.

[Yeah, I'm actually jealous that you have a way to enter the real world and meet Lan and the others] said Megaman.

[You're right, thanks for the cheering up] said Naruto happily.

"Hold on Naruto, there's something I wish to give you," said Dr. Hikari.

[Really, what is it?] asked Naruto.

Dr. Hikari typed in a few command codes on the keyboard after plugging in Naruto's PET into the computer. Then the screen lit up to display some sort of weapon, it has the appearance of a laser gun with a futuristic design and a color scheme of white, cyan and black, and a loading bar is below it to signal its installation.

"Hey dad, what's that for?" asked Lan curiously.

"After talking with Naruto, I decided to create a weapon for him, a sword that doesn't utilize chakra like his chakra blade," said Dr. Hikari.

"A sword but it looks more like a gun," said Dex confusedly.

[How can gun be sword?] said Gutsman in agreement with his NetOp.

"Despite its appearance, it's actually a sword that is able to produce a blade of plasma energy for its melee attacks as well as rapid fire plasma shots which can be charged up for extra power. I call it the Aurum Blade," said Dr. Hikari **(Refer to Aurum Blade from Kid Icarus: Uprising)**

Soon the installation was complete and Naruto felt strings of information flow into his mind, he held out his hands as particles of data formed around it before merging together to form the Aurum Blade. Naruto squeezed the handle a little tightly then a blade made of cyan energy shot out of the muzzle afterwards he pulled the trigger for the blade to withdraw and a cyan plasma bullet to shot out of it.

"Also it has an adaptation program embedded in it," said Dr. Hikari.

"Adaptation program?" asked Dex confusedly.

"It means that the Aurum blade becomes stronger in time as Naruto uses it in battle, am I right Dr. Hikari?" said Chaud.

"That's right," said Dr. Hikari nodding in confirmation.

" **Sounds like a suitable weapon for you kit, especially since you often tend to get yourself in lots of trouble whether you want to or not,"** said Kurama.

" _Ain't that the truth?"_ thought Naruto "Thanks very much Hikari-san,"

"You're most welcome Naruto, now let us proceed with the transfer,"

Dr. Hikari unplugged the cable from the computer then inserted it into the port of the HoloBrace, Naruto put his together to form a handsign as chakra proceeded to flow out of his body and through the cable, the 'gem' glowed brightly for a few minutes then chakra radiated from it and took before finally fading away to reveal Naruto standing before them while wearing an orange sleeveless top which is zipped up all the way to a standup collar and the red swirl on the back over a dark blue inner t-shirt, and orange 3/4 pants as he still wears his headband and the sandals **(Naruto's outfit from Naruto Movie 3 Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom)**

Naruto unplugged the cable and then looked at the PET to see his body currently sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed as if sleeping before wearing the strap around his neck, Naruto look his hands as he clenched them a few times before grinning like a fox.

"Looks it works just like we hoped , may I see the HoloBrace?" asked Dr. Hikari, Naruto complied as Lan's father tapped on the 'gem' and a holographic screen appeared before displaying some sort of timer "Interesting…it appears that the HoloBrace has been given enough energy to last for five hours,"

"That's great, it just means more time for you to hang out with us," said Lan.

"Yeah we have so much to show you," said Yai.

"Sure, I'm up for it," said Naruto.

"Keep in mind Naruto, that as the HoloBrace is active it constantly sends data to our server which we could then use to further our research so that we could find a way to bring you into the real world," said Dr. Hikari.

"Okay Hikari-san,"

"You guys can go have fun, I'll be busy in the meantime," said Chaud as he turned and left the laboratory.

"What does he mean by that?" asked Naruto.

"Chaud is the vice-president of his father's company BlazeQuest that manufacture PETs and is one of the five biggest company in the world," said Yai.

"Let's get going already, we'll see you at home dad," said Lan.

"See you guys around," said Hikari as he watched them leave, he turned to look at the monitor which was displaying streams of data from the HoloBrace with interest "One thing's for sure, I'm not going to get bored with Naruto around,"

Meanwhile with Naruto and the gang were currently touring through ACDC town after dropping off from Yai's limo (Naruto got totally floored from it's speed).

"This place is pretty cool, it's way different from my old home," said Naruto

"How is your old home like Naruto?" asked Maylu.

"My village resides deep within a forest at the base of a mountain known as the Hokage Rock, which has the faces of all those who have taken the office of Hokage engraved on it, I even played a prank by climbing and painting graffiti before being chased by the Chuunins though none of them could catch me…except for Iruka-sensei. There was the Ichiraku's where they sell the best ramen in the whole world, the hot springs where Pervy Sage would try to peep, Yakiniku Q where Chouji regularly stuffs himself with barbeque…," Naruto trailed off as memories of Konoha and his friends flowed through his mind and his heart filled with longing for his home "I really miss them,"

The group noticed the blonde's depression and felt guilty at bringing up his past

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked something so sensitive," said Maylu apologetically.

"No worries, I would have told you guys anyway so cheer up," said Naruto with a wide grin, making the others smile as well "So where to next?"

"Well seeing as how you don't have any battle chips despite owning a PET, we need to get you some and we know just the place for that," said Tory.

Naruto was led all the way to a shop which has a large banner written 'Higsby's Battle Chip Shop' and went in. Inside were numerous chips placed on the shelves for all to see.

"Whoa, that's a lot of battle chips," said Naruto in wonder.

"Yeah but they're nothing compared to the ones I have," said Yai smugly.

"Hello and welcome to my chip shop," everyone to see a man standing behind the counter, he has messy brown and wears glasses with rectangular lenses although his eyes always appear to be closed, white long sleeved shirt with an orange tie, long blue trousers, and a pair of black shoes "Oh hello there everyone,"

"Hey there Higsby," said Lan then he turned to Naruto "That's my friend Higsby, the owner of the shop and a collector of rare battle chips," said Lan.

[It's where we got some of ours] said Megaman.

"So how can I help you guys?" asked Higsby.

"My friend Naruto here just got his PET today and we need your help to get him some battle chips," said Lan.

"Uh guys, how can I buy battle chips without any money?" asked Naruto confusedly.

"Not to worry Naruto, I got it covered," said Yai while holding out an electronic money card.

"Thanks Yai-chan, I'm grateful," said Naruto happily.

"No problem,"

Soon enough, Naruto had stocked up on battle chips upon suggestions from his new friends which were

Cannon, Airshot, Sword, Widesword, Longsword, Areasteal, Shockwave, Invisible, Barrier, Boomerang, Yoyo, Vulcan, Longblade, Wideblade, Firehit, AntiDmg, Antisword, Muramasa, Shotgun, Elecsword, Aquasword and Firesword. Then he purchased a holster to contain the chips which he then strapped to his waist.

[That's a pretty decent set of chips you got there, but how are you going to carry them in case your Holobody disappears?] asked Roll.

Naruto thought rather deeply before perking up with a snap of his fingers "I got it, but I'm going to need an ink brush and some ink,"

"Actually, we got something that is both. We call it an ink brush pen, hold on while Lan goes and gets it," said Maylu.

"Huh? Why me?" asked Lan confusedly.

[Mostly you move faster with your skates on] said Megaman as a matter-of-factly.

"Oh alright," Lan grumbled before leaving, it took about ten minutes before Lan came back with the drawing tool,

Naruto practiced with the ink brush pen to get the hang of it, then he turned the PET over to show the back and proceeded to draw symbols foreign to the others. After waiting for the ink to dry completely, he placed the chip holster on the symbols and then channeled his chakra which made it disappear in a puff of smoke.

"Whoa how did you do that and where did it go?" asked Dex.

"I sealed it within the seal, so all I have to do is channel chakra into it again to bring it back out," said Naruto.

[That's pretty cool] said Iceman.

"And you guys haven't seen anything yet," Naruto smirked.

Next place that Naruto was taken to almost made hi pop his eyes out.

"You mean to tell me that Yai-chan owns this place?! It's almost a quarter of Konoha!" he yelled.

His reason for shock was the fact that Yai's home is extremely large and that's even putting it lightly.

"Tell me about it, Yai keeps calling it a house although mansion is probably a better word for it," said Lan.

"Anyway, let's head on over to the tree house," said Yai.

Once inside the tree house if it could even be called that with the interior possessing state of the art tech especially for net battles.

"Now that we're all here, let's jack-in our NetNavis," said Tory.

" **Kit plug in your PET into the HoloBrace and then impart a bit of yourself into the Holobody just like when you make a shadow clone,"** said Kurama.

" _Got it!"_ thought Naruto, then he did as suggested and felt himself awaken within his PET and saw his Holobody reacting like many of his shadow clones

"Okay boss, it worked," said C-Naruto (Clone Naruto for short)

"Okay guys, jack in Megaman, power up!" said Lan.

"Jack-in! Roll, Power up!" said Maylu.

"Jack-in! Glyde, Power up!" said Yai.

"Jack-in! Gutsman, Power up!" said Dex.

"Jack-in! Iceman, Power up!" said Tori.

"Jacking in and Powering up!" said C-Naruto.

Everyone plugged into the ports and their NetNavis all appeared in the cyberspace of the terminal.

"Hey guys," said Naruto with a wave.

"Greetings Naruto," said Glyde with the others greeting as well.

"Hey Naruto, since you got battle chips now…how about a NetBattle?" asked Dex.

"Sure I'm game," said Naruto with a smirk and the faceplate coming on.

Both NetNavi and Hybrid NetNavi stood at opposite ends of the battlefield as they got ready for the oncoming battle with C-Naruto unsealing the chip holster and strapping it on

"If both contenders are ready, then battle begin!" said Glyde.

 **Music Start: Megaman Battle Network 3 OST; Navi Battle**

"Here I come!" Naruto dashed towards Gutsman.

"Go get em Gutsman!" said Dex.

"Guts guuuuts!" Gutsman lumbered towards Naruto as well.

"Guts Punch!" Gutsman launched a straight punch at Naruto who quickly dashed to the side in order to evade the attack.

"Here you go boss! Firehit battle chip in, download!" C-Naruto took out a chip and quickly slotted it in.

Naruto's fist lit up in flames as he immediately moved in and planted a burning button hook in Gutsman's torso, causing him to stumble backwards in pain.

"Don't give in Gutsman! You can strike him now that he's close to you. Shockwave battle chip in, download!" Dex slotted a battle chip into his PET.

Gutsman raised a fist above his head and brought it down to launch a shockwave which raced straight along the ground towards Naruto. The blond quickly high into the air for the attack to pass underneath him then he stretched an arm as clusters of data appeared before forming the Aurum blade.

"Time to give my new gear a test run," Naruto took aim and pulled the trigger to launch a rapid fire of plasma shots that pelted relentlessly.

"Here's a double up, Vulcan battle chip in, download!" C-Naruto slotted in a chip.

Naruto's free arm transformed into a gun with multiple barrels which began to spin as bullets shot out of it alongside the Aurum blade.

"Not so fast! Barrier battle chip in, download!" Dex quickly inserted a chip into his PET, a transparent dome appeared around Gutsman as the projectiles bounced off upon impact "And now Guts hammer battle chip in, download!" Gutsman's hands glowed blue before morphing into a hammer, he raised it into the air before bringing it down to slam on the ground which launched a shockwave much more powerful than the previous one.

"Let's see you hit what you won't be able to see, Invisible battle chip in, download!" said C-Naruto.

Naruto smirked as he completely disappeared from their sight and the shockwave struck a nearby wall, completely missing the target.

"Where did he go?!" Gutsman looked around confusedly for but the next thing he knew, he felt something strike his chest in three different spots with enough force to launch him into the air while hearing Naruto's voice.

"Na…Ru…To!" the space distorted for a moment before revealing three clones of Naruto with their legs sticking out. Gutsman painfully opened his eyes to see Naruto descending towards him while somersaulting "Uzumaki Barrage!" and lashed out with a spinning heel drop kick to send Gutsman plummeting towards the ground.

"Time for the finisher, Areasteal battle chip in, download!" said C-Naruto.

Naruto seemly disappeared in midair before reappearing on the ground with a charged up Aurum blade in hand.

"Blast away!" he pulled the trigger to unleashed a powerful blast to send Gutsman flying away before disappearing in a beam of light.

[Gutsman logging out] said Dex's PET much to his dismay.

 **Music End**

"Whoa Dex, he totally trashed you and Gutsman," said Lan.

"No need to remind me," Dex grumbled.

[One thing's for sure, Chaud and Protoman would definitely want to battle Naruto once they hear of this aside from us] said Megaman.

[So what do you guys think?] asked Naruto with a foxy grin.

"You're going to give lot of NetOps and their Navis a run for their money," said Tory.

After a few more hours of playing online, the gang went off to their separate homes with Naruto following Lan to his place. He met Lan's mother, who welcomed him into her home with open arms and took a liking to her. After dinner which she was a bit saddened that Naruto couldn't eat yet, they all went to sit in the living room to watch some TV leading Kurama to develop an interest in anime especially of the fantasy genre.

"So how do you find DenTech city?" asked Haruka.

"It's a really nice place to live, though the lack of greenery makes me a bit out of place especially since I like gardening a lot back in my old home," said Naruto.

" **It's a given since you're a ninja, and ninja often rely on the forest for stealth among other things,"** said Kurama though his eyes were still on the TV.

"Well I'm hope that you would come to like it here and continue to be friends with Lan and the others," said Haruka.

"Of course, Haruka-san," Naruto smiled.

[It turns out that Lan and I won a prize which is a free trip to Netopia for taking second place in the grand prix, and the plane takes off tomorrow] said Megaman.

"Then you better head to your room and start packing Lan, and make sure that you got everything that you would need for the trip," said Haruka.

"Okay mom, come on Naruto so that I can show you the stuff on my computer," said Lan.

 **"Oh no you don't kit, I want to see how Gogeta is going to dominate that Buu guy,"** said Kurama.

"Maybe later Lan, I want to finish watching this part," said Naruto.

"Okay then," Lan went upstairs to his room.

After watching the TV show, Naruto bid Mrs. Haruka goodnight before going upstairs to Lan's room where he docked his PET and deactivated the HoloBrace before going to sleep completely unaware that a strange orb floated out of him and took on a humanoid form, it looked at the sleeping Naruto for a moment before floating back into him without either the blond or Kurama noticing a thing.

Elsewhere in a dark space, a girl stands in a small spot of light, she has long purple hair with a red bow tied to the side, and she wears a long black coat with a matching skirt and a white shirt with a red bowtie. She also wears a pair of white gloves and black stockings.

She was currently surrounded by numerous holographic screens each displaying NetBattles with looks of mild interest although she was slowly getting bored.

"*Sigh* They don't seem to make strong NetNavis like they used to back them and the others are so cliché except for that red NetNavi with the sword…hmmm?" the girl glanced to the side and saw a particular NetBattle where a NetNavi with blond spiky hair was currently battling another NetNavi. She watched with growing interest as the blond one fought and won the battle.

"Strong and cute as well with those whisker marks, he's perfect for participating in our tournament…what do you think girls?" the girl turned to look behind her as two black silhouettes appeared, both appeared feminine but one sported gigantic claws while the other had giant needlelike feet.

"He looks nice, I hope he isn't a mean person," said the one with the claws shyly.

"He looks to be someone who can make me 'feel' the existence of others, I say we bring into our tournament," said the one with needle feet.

"So it's unanimous then, he's invited to the Moon Cell tournament," the purple haired girl raised a palm and a ball of light appeared before flying towards its target "You've caught my interest, Naruto Uzumaki," she smiled.

* * *

 **This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto has temporarily found a way to exist in the real despite a few setbacks but it's only a matter of time before fully emerging between both worlds, along with a gift from Lan's dad and a pack of battle chips to boot. The main mysteries are what was that came out of Naruto and what's its interest in him, as well as the trio of girls that have just sent an invite to him to an unknown tournament.**

 **After having a chat with one of my fellow authors, I thought to borrow a couple of elements and characters from a well-known game and anime. Also later in the story, Naruto won't be the only one to emerge from the cyber world but that's enough of the spoilers.**

… **Just for the heck of it, Naruto might get powers similar to that of Megaman's but a whole different level.**

 **Again here's the list with the possible harem candidates**

 **Meddy  
Iris  
Jasmine  
Anetta  
Princess Pride  
Miu  
Sal  
Shuko**

 **I'll also be adding some girls from the anime anime/game of the additional slight list will posted on the next chapter. For a hint let's just say that it's up to fate.**

 **This is Hussbek from Ghana.**

 **Signing out.**


	5. An Invitation to a Tourney in the Moon

**Maelstrom EXE.**

"Normal speech"

" **Tailed Beast speech"**

[Talking from the PET]

 **Chapter 3: An Invitation to a Tourney in the Moon**

"Have a good trip Lan, and be sure to grab some souvenirs before you get back," said Naruto.

Today was the day when Lan and Megaman were to go on a free trip to Netopia which happened to be the prize for second place in the N1 Grand Prix, so Naruto decided to see him off at the airport as he prepared to board the plane.

"Sure thing Naruto, I'll do that along the way," Lan let out a yawn "man why did I have to wake up this early?"

[It's because we shouldn't be late for our flight, Lan. Now hurry up and get on board before it leaves us behind] said Megaman.

"Okay okay Megaman, no need to rush me. So Megaman and I will see you in a couple weeks' time," said Lan.

"Okay Lan, catch ya later," Naruto held out a fist to which Lan smirked before bumping it with his.

A few minutes later, Naruto stood outside the airport and watched as the plane which Lan is on flew away to Netopia.

" **So what now Kit?"** asked Kurama.

"Not so sure Kurama, maybe we could check out Higsby's for some info before anything else," said Naruto.

" **It's a start,"**

Naruto walked along the streets and marveled at the sights for a while before finally arriving at the chip shop before entering the place.

"Welcome to Higsby's…oh hello there Naruto," said Higsby with a smile upon seeing the blond enter his shop.

"Hiya Higsby-san," said Naruto.

"So what brings you here?"

"Well I just saw Lan and Megaman off at the airport, so now I pretty much got nothing to do right now,"

"Well you could always accept a job from the request board,"

That got Naruto's attention as well as piqued his curiosity "Request board, what's that?"

"It is a board where people post asking for help with their problems both in and out of the internet, and you'll be rewarded upon completing them,"

 _"Hmmmm, sounds like those D-rank missions back at Konoha,"_ thought Naruto "What kind of rewards would one get upon completing jobs?"

"The rewards may vary per person, it could be money, an item, or even a rare battle chip which I hope you wouldn't mind trading," said Higsby.

"I'll think about it, so where can I find the request board?" asked Naruto.

"Most request boards can be found in arcades as well as higher graded chip shops too," said Higsby getting depressed when talking about chip shops.

"Thanks for the info Higsby-san, I'll see you later," Naruto waved him goodbye as he left the shop.

"Would have been nice if he bought a battle chip before he left," Higsby mumbled.

Following the GPS on the PET, Naruto made his way to a building with a large signboard above saying 'Arcade'. He entered the building where he saw kids everywhere with some playing video games while others engaged each other in NetBattles.

"Looks like a fun place, now where is that request board…there it is!" Naruto looked around until setting his eyes on a board hanging on a wall at the other side of the arcade. He walked over to it and read the contents

 **"It appears that to accept a job, you should input your name and IP address of your PET in order to inform the client of the acceptance, and you can't take on two jobs at once either,"** said Kurama.

"And they seem to be ranked by stars with more stars representing the difficulty. Let's start things off with the one star requests…ah here's a good one," Naruto tapped a section of the electronic board and a window opened up for him to read.

Request: Virus Deletion  
Info: "Please take care of the virus for me! If my teacher finds out, I'm going to be in so much trouble! I'm waiting in class 2-1 in ACDC Elementary School,"

 **"Sounds like a kid that bit off more than he or she could chew,"** said Kurama.

"Yeah and I kinda doubt that there are many teachers who are as understanding as Iruka-sensei," Naruto plugged his PET into the board as the request was transferred into it.

Afterwards he made his way towards Lan's school and took note that it was a lot bigger than the ninja academy back in Konoha. He walked down one of the aisle before stopping before one of the classrooms which had the signs written '2-1', he entered the room to see a little brown haired girl wearing a blue dress and black sandals pacing around nervously.

"Excuse me, are you the one who put up the request?" asked Naruto.

The girl looked at the blond before running towards him with hope in her eyes "Yes! And I hope you're the one who answered my request, I wanted to do some virus busting after practice but the viruses were too strong for my NetNavi to delete and I don't to let the viruses damage the computer. Please help me,"

"No problem, I'll help you," said Naruto.

"Thank you very much," the girl was ecstatic.

Naruto plugged his PET into the HoloBrace to transfer into it as the clone took over the Holobody. C-Naruto approached the electronic blackboard as he pulled out the USB cord.

"Jacking in and Powering up!" the clone inserted the cable into the jack-in port as Naruto felt himself transfer through the data until arriving at the cyberspace of the electronic blackboard.

"Now where are those viruses?" Naruto heard some familiar squeaking and looked around to see a group of Mettaur using their pickaxes to make holes around the cyberspace. He noticed that some of them wore a red-orange hard hats and dark blue crosses on them "those guys look different from the ones I know, better get to work then,"

Naruto drew out the chakra blade and charged forward as the Mettaur saw him and attacked, "Cyber shuriken!" Naruto conjured a handful of shuriken and threw them, successfully hitting a few while some others leapt out of the way to evade. The viruses slammed their pickaxes to the ground to launch shockwaves towards him, Naruto kicked the ground hard to launch himself into the air as he evaded the attacks.

"Chakra Blade Boomerang!" Naruto threw the chakra blade as it slashed through several more of the Mettaur but as it drew close to one of the oddly colored ones, it hide in its helmet for the blade to be deflected before returning to Naruto who caught it with a frown.

"Use this boss, Yoyo battle chip in, download!" C-Naruto inserted the battle chip into the slot.

Naruto's left hand transformed into an attachment which opened up to fire a large bladed yoyo with a long rope attached to it to slice through the viruses but the other Mettaur still deflected the attack.

"Those Mettaur can block most attacks with my helmet, let's see them block my Rasengan next," Naruto got ready to summon a shadow clone when an idea came across his mind "Or I could try out that, Hey let's try out those three chips like Lan and Chaud did,"

"Okay boss, here they come. Cyber Sword, Widesword and Longsword battle chip in, download!" c-Naruto slotted the chips in quickly.

Naruto's left arm along with the right transformed into a sword hilt with a glowing blue blade and a blade with a wide hilt respectively before raising both above his head as they merged into a single purple blade "Try blocking this, program advance; Beta Sword!" then he swung it forward to launch a large wave that sliced through the shielded Mettaur and deleted them without a trace.

 **"That's pretty impressive kit, this program advance will be useful to us in the future,"** said Kurama.

"I know and I can tell there are more of them, we just have to figure out the right combinations," said Naruto "Since I'm done here, I'll be jacking out," he disappeared in a beam of light before returning to the PET and then the Holobody.

The girl looked at Naruto in awe of the battle she just saw "Wow mister, you're so strong,"

"It was nothing, it was just something I wanted to try out. Anyway the viruses are gone now," said Naruto.

"Thank you very much for the help, take this for your reward," the girl handed out 500 zennys to Naruto who took it "If I have any more requests, I hope you could take them,"

"Sure I'll be happy to, I'll see you around," said Naruto before leaving the classroom.

Afterwards he returned to the arcade to take on more requests from the request board, it was both in good fun as well as training in the cyber world as well. He also managed to rack up some zennys and battle chips along the way, heck he even got himself a skateboard **(A Powell Golden Dragon Skateboard)** from a surfer dude who wanted to 'surf' through the city but later preferred to stick riding the 'big blues'. At the moment, he's currently riding back to the house and relax for a while.

"Haruka-san, I'm back!" Naruto called out as he entered the living room.

"Welcome back, Naruto-kun, how was your day?" said Haruka from the kitchen.

"It was fine, I took a couple requests from the request board over at the arcade after seeing Lan and Megaman off at the airport. I even managed to get myself a skateboard from one of the clients for deleting viruses that were corrupting the computer in his motorhome,"

"That's nice of you, Lan tends to do the same but only when he's running low on pocket money and wants to purchase battle chips,"

"Sounds like him," Naruto sat on the couch before picking up the remote to turn on the TV and switched channels then stopping on a TV show.

"And here comes Wizard's rider kick!" Naruto watched as the armored hero performed his signature finisher on the enemy and there was a fiery explosion "That was so cool, and he looked good doing it too!"

" **Whatever, he's nothing compared to Goku and the others when they performed their techniques,"** Kurama.

"Come on Kurama, even though it wasn't as destructive you have to admit that it looked cool just like when Kamen Rider Kabuto performed his rider kick when the enemy thought that he dropped his guard only to receive a roundhouse kick from out of nowhere,"

" **Can their attacks actually destroy an entire planet? I think not, those are techniques after my own heart that I wouldn't mind trading my Bijuudama for any of them,"**

"You like your shows and I like mine," Naruto grumbled.

Suddenly, Naruto's PET begun to beep and he looked at it to send an unread email with an attachment, strange thing was that he couldn't see the name of the sender.

"I wonder who sent this email?" Naruto opened the mailbox and activated the attachment for a window to pop up and a video to start playing, what he saw was a girl with long purple hair with a red bow tied to the side, and she wears a long black coat with a matching skirt and a white shirt with a red bowtie. She also wears a pair of white gloves and black stockings "I wonder who she is,"

"Greetings Naruto Uzumaki, my name is BB" said the girl.

Naruto frowned a bit "How does she know my name? I've only been here for two weeks and my name is yet to appear in any database like Hikari-san told me,"

"I'm sure you're wondering how I knew about you, the truth is that I've been watching you and your NetBattles for a while now and I must say that I'm impressed. It pleases me to invite you to the Moon Cell Holy Grail War where the chosen NetBattlers both with operators and solo NetNavis gather around with only the strongest being granted the privilege to receive the ultimate prize. Know that this tournament is only known by a chosen few so should you decide to participate, you're to arrive at the port where a ship will take you to the venue after showing them the invitation. I look forward to your participation," said BB as the video ended.

"So what do you think Kurama?" asked Naruto.

" **Receiving an invite from a stalker to a secret battle tournament where only the strongest fighters gather to compete for unknown but precious prize…sounds like the best thing keep us occupied for a while aside from doing jobs from the request board,"** said Kurama with a smirk.

"Are you sure about this Kurama? No one knows about the tournament except those invited, doesn't it sound suspicious?" asked Naruto.

" **In that case, then you'll just have to destroy whatever plans they have. You've always been good with that if I recall most of your past missions,"**

"If you say so Kurama, I just hope that it wouldn't be the case,"

" _ **I pretty much doubt that with your luck,"**_ thought Kurama.

"Since we got a week before the tournament, how about working on a seal that could store chakra and release to recharge the HoloBrace while I'm jacked into the arena to avoid being suddenly cut off from using battlechips?" asked Naruto.

" **That's a good idea kit, it could help in the long run especially when you wouldn't be able to supply chakra in some situations,"**

Then Naruto went to sleep for the night and the next day, he went to the nearest bookshop and purchased a lot of papers and ink brush pens before returning to the house and holed himself up in Lan's room as he began to work on his latest project. With Kurama's help since he's familiar with seals and his sudden talent in them, he started out with prototypes which got better with each one tried until finally getting a seal capable of storing large amounts of chakra capable of recharging the HoloBrace to its maximum ten times before running out. Then it took him the next three days to stock up a quartet of the chakra seals.

On the fourth day, Naruto checked out the current battlechips in hand and went to Higsby for some tips although the chip fanatic was floored when Naruto told him that he managed to perform the program advance and on the last day he got a call from Yai and the others, inviting him to a beach party over at the Jawaiian islands but he politely declined while saying that he has some things to do for a while much to their confusion as he hasn't been in their world for too long.

Soon the time for departure to the tournament had come and Naruto was currently riding on his skateboard while hanging on to a bumper of a truck which they call skitching in other words before letting go to slingshot ahead a high-speed as he performed an Ollie to get on top of a rail and grinded along it before finally getting to the port and stopping at the edge of the docks.

"Well we're here, so where's our ride to our location?" no sooner he said that did Naruto hear the sound of an engine and traced it to see a cabin cruiser heading his way before stopping at the docks.

" **Ask and you shall receive, that saying seems to fit this current scenario,"** said Kurama with Naruto nodding in agreement.

He entered the boat and took notice that there were already passengers onboard it as well as a console sitting in the center of the deck.

The first is a girl with tanned skin and paling pink hair. She wears a sunset multicolored tank top, small blue shorts and a pair of red sandals. She saw Naruto looking at her and gave him a wink as he quickly looked away in order to avoid being called a pervert.

Next is a woman with short magenta hair and a mole just below her left eye, she wears a black two piece suit with a red-violet necktie, and a pair of black shoes. She looked at Naruto and nodded at him in greeting as he returned the same gesture.

The next is a boy with golden hair unlike his sun kissed blond hair, wearing a sleeveless blue vest with yellow lining, a long sleeved hooded shirt over, camo pants reaching up to the shins, and a pair of white sneakers. The boy approached Naruto with a smile on his face.

"Hello there, my name is Gil and it's nice to meet you," said the boy known as Gil.

"The name's Naruto Uzumaki, nice to meet you too," said Naruto with a foxy grin.

"Well since you two are introducing yourselves, I might as well do the same. My name is Chloe von Einzbern, but you can call me Kuro for short," said the girl after walking up to the boys followed by the woman.

"Then I too, I am Bazett Fraga McRemitz," said the woman.

"It's nice to meet you all," said Naruto.

[Hey hey, don't forget about us!] Everyone turned towards the console as it lit up before several holograms appeared for them to see.

The first is a girl with long pink hair tied in pigtails and wearing a revealing sort of blue short kimono, a pair of indigo socks reaching up to her thighs, a pair of black geta. What caught Naruto's attention the most was the fox ears and tails on her.

[Hi there! My name is Tamamo no Mae, but you can simply call me Caster] said the fox girl happily.

" **I'm looking at a female version of you kit,"** said Kurama, Naruto chose to ignore him.

Second is a woman with blond hair tied to a bun at the back and an ahoge at the front. She wears red militarized ball dress with a translucent white portion on the front, exposing her slim legs which were wearing golden sabatons and greaves.

[Since you haven't yet realized the privilege of meeting me, I could grace you with the fact that my name is Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, or you could simply call me Red Saber] said the girl with an arrogant smile.

"Oh okay," said Naruto with a sweatdrop.

"Quite the stuck up isn't she?" whispered Kuro for the blond to nod in agreement.

Next is a girl with magenta hair like Bazett and wears a cyber-goth-loli dress, she has long dragon horns and tail with fangs protruding from her mouth. The girl struck a pose and winked at everyone.

[Hello, this is everyone's favorite idol Elizabeth Bathory! Nice to meet you squirrels and pigs] said the girl.

"Did she just diss us with a smile?" asked Naruto with a tick mark on his head.

"I believe she did," said Bazett being just as angry.

Last is a man with blue hair wearing a deep ultramarine full bodysuits with runic markings and a flame design on his left arm.

[Yo the name's Cu Chulainn but you can simply call me Lancer] said the man with a two fingered salute.

"Hello Lancer," said Gil.

"I guess you all must be the solo NetNavis that were invited to participate in the Moon Cell Holy Grail War right?" asked Naruto.

[Of course, these people obviously know a strong warrior when they see one, unlike those amateurs that participated in that roguish N1 Grand Prix with the exception the two finalists] Nero spoke haughtily.

[I was hanging around the Jawaiian net and doing some cyber fishing when I got the message, then I thought 'Why not?' and decided to join in] said Lancer, shrugging his shoulders.

[I was on a quest so when I received the message, I saw it as a great opportunity for me] said "Caster dreamily.

"What is your quest?" asked Naruto curiously.

Caster placed a finger on her lips [Not gonna tell ya, it's a secret]

[I came along because it will serve as a great source of inspiration for my next songs] said Elizabeth.

"My NetNavi saw this as a chance for conquest when we got ours," said Gil sheepishly.

"I thought that participating in this competition would show us how much we measure up to other NetNavis and their NetOps," said Kuro.

"Guess we all have our reasons for being in this tournament, but that doesn't meant that I'll be holding back when I run into any of you during the tournament," said Naruto with a smirk.

[Me too!] said Caster excitedly.

[Heh, took the words right out of my mouth. I like you kid, hope your NetNavi is the same] said Lancer with a grin.

[Hmph, I would find it insulting if you faced me at only half of your strength] said Nero.

[It would be quite a show if I run into you piggy] said Elizabeth.

A smile appeared on Bazett's face "I'm looking forward to it,"

Naruto thought to look out from the top of the cabin cruiser and saw a tropical forest with a tall mountain in the center, and apparently they're heading towards it.

" _That must be where the tournament is taking place, ready for action Kurama?"_ thought Naruto.

" **Heh, the real question is if our opponents are ready for us instead?"** said Kurama with a smirk.

" _True that,"_

On a ledge of the mountain, a black silhouette is watching the boat approach the island with eyes narrowed with mirth.

"It appears that BB has invited another group of competitors into her silly game, and I sense a large amount of energy from amongst them. It feels quite…enticing, perhaps I could acquire it along with the other 'one'. After all, power and wishes makes a wonderful combination and this time she won't be able to stop me from achieving my ambitions," the figure giggled darkly before vanishing without a trace.

* * *

 **This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, after getting a lifestyle in his new home, Naruto receives an invite to a tournament from an unknown sender but decides to go for it and joins the participants for fun. However there is someone aiming for him and some other power during the tournament, one things for sure, he's definitely going to get involved.**

 **For those wondering who exactly the participants are, here's the list**

 **NetOps and NetNavis**

 **Kuro =EMIYA**

 **Kid Gil =Gilgamesh**

 **Bazett =Saber Lily**

 **C-Naruto =Naruto himself**

 **Solo NetNavis**

 **Nero  
Tamamo no Mae  
Elizabeth Bathory  
Cu Chulainn**

 **More might appear in the tournament, so read and review as always.**

 **This is Hussbek from Ghana**

 **Signing out**


	6. Setting Up for a Lunar Bout

**Maelstrom EXE.**

"Normal speech"

" **Tailed Beast speech"**

[Talking from the PET]

 **Chapter 4: Setting Up for a Lunar Bout**

On the sandy shores of a tropical beach resort on Jawaiian Island which is one of the group called the Southern Islands, a muscular man with red hair and goatee wearing orange swimming trunks, white flip-flops and a yellow towel hung around his neck with visible scars all over his body as he struck a manly pose.

"Finally after countless scars and bruises from working day and night at any job I could find, I have saved enough to come here where once again I will battle Lan! Ha, do you hear me Lan?! I have come to take my revenge. Fear my fire Megaman! For this time I assure you will be the last time we meet because I will delete you!" said the man with a Scottish accent.

That's when Maylu passed by while riding on a jet ski and called out to him "Mr. Match, Newsflash! Lan's. not. here,"

The man now known as Mr. Match was slack jawed at what he just heard "He's not here?! You can't be serious!"

"It's true, I'm pretty he's gone to Netopia a long time ago," said Tory as he relaxed under an umbrella while sipping on a glass of mango juice. In the water, Yai was teaching Dex how to swim.

"Say Yai, how come Naruto isn't here with us?" asked Dex curiously.

"I did invite him to come along to a beach party, but he said that he had some things to do and wouldn't be able to come which I find strange since he hasn't in here for very long," said Yai thoughtfully.

"You're right, I wonder what he's up to right now?" said Dex, then he suddenly frowned a bit "I just got the feeling that someone's challenging me,"

* * *

Somewhere else faraway, a train sped along the rails through the rolling hills full of flowers. Inside it, we find Lan taking a big bite out of a hotdog with Megaman looking on in amusement.

"Half gone in one bite, top that Dex!" said Lan before taking another bite.

[Are you kidding me? Dex could top that with a triple and he would still have room for fries] said Megaman.

"I wish Dex _was_ here, and Maylu, and Yai…even Naruto too since this would have been the best way for him to see most of our world,"

[Yeah me too, I can't wait to tell everybody about our trip. I mean we've seen some pretty cool places. Anyway here's our next stop, Bran city here we come…by the way Lan, have you been taking pictures of the trip like Naruto asked you to?]

Lan's face turned pale upon hearing the question "Oh no! I totally forgot about that! Naruto's going to be unhappy when he finds out about this,"

[I'm kinda wondering what he's up right about now?]

* * *

Meanwhile in an unknown part of the sea, an island unknown to many except for a few could be seen. There is a tall mountain surrounded by forests and one could hear the sounds of various animals deep within. The cabin cruiser had arrived at the dock and the competitors got off before standing on the pier and surveyed the area.

"Holding a mysterious tournament in an unknown island…kinda cliché if you ask me," said Naruto with a quirked eyebrow.

"Yeah, you pretty much see this kind of theme on TV shows and novels," said Kuro.

"I am willing to guess that the tournament would be held inside that mountain," said Gil as he pointed ahead of them.

"We might as well wait here for someone to arrive and guide us to the destination," said Barrett.

Then some sort spherical drone appeared from out of nowhere and hovered before them, its camera eye focused a bit and a beam of light shot out before widening to display a hologram of someone whom the group recognized instantly.

[Hello and welcome to Tsukumihara Island, where the Moon Cell Tournament will be held] said BB, she glanced to the side and a small smile graced her lips upon setting her eyes on Naruto [For the solo NetNavis, I'm creating a link into the drone as it leads you to the venue] then a long black cable came from a compartment of the said drone and inserted itself into a jack-in port of the console as Lancer, Nero, Caster and Elizabeth streamed into it [Now, this way if you please]

The group were led through the large and dense forest filled with both tropical and colossal trees with the forest's floor covered by exposed roots, flora and boulders. There were streams flowing nearing but the most unusual things they saw were bits of stones which appeared to have been part of a buildings and they were seeing more of them as they drew closer to the mountains. Naruto leaned over to whisper to Gil.

"Do you think that there was someone lived here before?" asked Naruto quietly.

"It seems so, they must have been foundations originating from a long time ago," said Gil.

"So you mean that this island existed much longer than we know? Then how come no one discovered this place and yet we were invited?" said Kuro.

"They might have some sort of technology which prevents them from being detected by outside forces," said Barrett.

They continued to ascend the rocky path for a while before finally arrived at the base of the mountain, built into the wall were two large gates depicting many warriors engaged in battle and a golden goblet above them as a moon shines down on both. The drone floated before the gates and made a few beeping sounds before they opened on their own to reveal a dark corridor lit up with candles.

Naruto and the others reached the end of the hallway to find themselves standing in what appears to be the interior of a cathedral with multiple doors leading elsewhere. Before them at the other side was a giant supercomputer which appears both ancient but at the same time advanced (an think of the bat computer from batman beyond), they approached the computer as the screen lit up to display BB standing before them.

[Once more as your hostess, I welcome you to the Moon Cell Holy Grail War] said BB.

"Where are the people? We didn't see anyone on our way here," said Kuro with everyone wondering the same thing.

[The ones who had built this place are since long gone, leaving it to me and the droids to watch over it and continue its purpose]

"And by purpose, you mean this Moon Cell Holy Grail War?" asked Gil.

[That is correct, to gather the strongest in order for them to compete for the ultimate prize]

[What is this 'ultimate prize' if you don't mind me asking?] said Nero via a holographic project from the drone.

[Within the moon are photonic crystals which have the power to alter reality itself, the capabilities of these crystals far surpass that of any digital media on earth as none can even hope to match its processing power. an especially large photonic crystal had been scanning the entire earth and compiling its results in its database, it is a processor with a massive memory that has recorded everything from habits and even the very souls of humanity. So as it can also affect the outside world with its calculations, it has the power to grant wishes]

Everyone was taken aback by the reveal, not only was there some sort of special mineral within the moon but it is capable of granting any kind of wishes, something which was only heard of in fairy tales but now is actually real. Most of the group were stunned but none more than Naruto and Kurama.

" _Do you think it's true Kurama? That the moon could grant actual wishes? This could be the one chance of us returning to Konoha,"_ thought Naruto.

" **I can't say for sure kit, I don't want to bring your hopes up only for it to come crashing down later. The best I can say is that we aim for first for now before anything else,"** said Kurama.

"So that explains why few know of this tournament. Should it have gone public, the world would swamped this place just to have their wishes granted," said Gil.

[Indeed, which is why the Moon Cell began the Holy Grail War and would grant a single wish to the victor of a chosen group] said BB.

"So where do we start?" asked Naruto.

BB gestured to the computer system before them [Inside of this computer system is an artificial environment known as The Photonic Abyss, be warned that once you send your NetNavis inside, they would be unable to exit it until the tournament is over. However there are private rooms for them to rest among other things. I shall only ask if you still wish to participate?]

Naruto smirked at the question "Someone asked me a question like that and I told them this 'I'm not gonna run away and I never go back on my word, that is my nindo! My ninja way!'"

[He's right, this won't stop me from fulfilling my quest!] said Caster with her tail wagging.

" **Seriously, what is this quest of hers?"** said Kurama with a quirked eyebrow.

[Surely you don't expect a lady with a love for art to pass up a chance to see more do you? It would describe how illusive one is] said Nero.

"My NetNavi would be a bit angry with me if I were to leave now," said Gil.

"I have a goal to accomplish so I won't let this stop me," said Bazett.

"How can my NetNavi and I get stronger if we pass up challenges like this? I'm definitely in," said Kuro.

[The stage is bigger than I thought, a big debut awaits me!] said Elizabeth excitedly.

[Thing's just got more interesting, I'm in] said Lancer.

BB nodded in affirmation [Very then, please proceed to jack into the system]

Everyone approached the computer while the drone inserted its cable into a port, Naruto had already transferred himself into the PET while his clone took over the Holobody without anyone watching…or so he thought.

"Jack-in! Archer, Power up!" said Kuro.

"Jack-in! Gilgamesh, Power up!" said Gil.

"Jack-in! Saber Lily, Power up!" said Bazett.

"Jacking in and Powering up!" said C-Naruto.

Everyone plugged into the ports and their NetNavis streamed through the link and soon appeared in their destination. Naruto looked to see the three NetNavis whom he hadn't met before.

One was a male with tanned skin color with silver spiky hair. He wears a black tight and sleeveless shirt with silver accents and a metal plate around his collar, black pants that has two black straps on the thighs and another two around the shins, and black metal plated shoes. He wears a red coat whereby there are two separated sleeves connected by a metal plate to expose the upper body and a separate red skirt which end above the shins with the top tied into a knot and covered by a silver metal plate.

The next is also a male with golden hair, he wears golden knight armor with blue accents, excluding the helmet with a crimson skirt which end at his feet.

The third is a female with blonde hair while a single hair strand sticking out from the top, she wears a white dress of old western design with the skirt resembling the petals of a lily flower, with silver armor plating on top of it.

"I haven't met you guys before, the name's Naru- err I mean Maelstrom," said Naruto not wanting to reveal his identity.

The tanned man quirked an eyebrow at the young blonde's slip of tongue but replied nonetheless "I am Archer and Kuro is my NetOp,"

The golden haired man scoffed at the question however "Hmph, I find it rather insulting that you do not know of me or at least heard of my name. What is your origin so that I might grace them with my presence?"

Lancer spoke up "His name is Gilgamesh the 'king of heroes', many know of him for being a powerful NetNavi,"

"I thank you for educating this young plebeian," Gilgamesh looked at Naruto rather smugly.

" _Great, a guy with the combined personalities of Sasuke-teme and Neji when he was a jerk to Hinata…just my luck,"_ thought Naruto.

" **Be careful around him Naruto, I feel that his strength is great,"** said Kurama.

" _How strong?"_

" **Can't say for sure, but be on your guard if you ever go up against him,"**

The blonde female stepped forward with a smile on her face "Hello maelstrom, my name is Saber Lily and it's nice to meet you all,"

"Same here," said Naruto.

"You know, I wasn't expecting Naruto to have a NetNavi customized to look like him," said Lancer.

"Actually it was his parents who did it for him as a birthday present," Naruto quickly lied, Lancer nodded in affirmation to the answer.

"Hey everyone, look at where we are!" Caster suddenly called out to the group.

Naruto and the others turned to look around to see that they're standing in some sort of grounds and around them were buildings varying both in height and styles with trees growing in several places. What caught a majority of their attention were people walking around while dressed in some kind of brown school uniform much to their growing confusion.

"I think I speak for most of us when I ask the question of what on earth is going on here," said Naruto with everyone nodding in agreement. In a bright flash of light, BB appeared before them.

"Where are we and why does the cyberspace look like some sort of academy?" asked Elizabeth.

"The pink one speaks the truth, what is this strange oddity which we're seeing here?" asked Nero with Elizabeth frowning at her.

"In every tournament held, the Moon Cell generates different landscapes in order to test the adaptability of the NetNavis and their NetOps. As of this moment, this place is called the Tsukumihara Academy which is where you can rest as well as gain information on enemies and puzzles which you eventually encounter within the Sakura Labyrinth," said BB.

"The Sakura Labyrinth, what is this place?" asked Kuro.

"It is a maze located underneath the academy where numerous enemies, puzzles, traps and even treasure can be found on every level. In order to access each level, you're to locate two halves of a key in to unlock the door on the fifth floor of the current level in order to link to the next area. They can be found hidden in one of the floors or are dropped when you defeat an especially strong opponent. You can also acquire the key by defeating any of your competitors should you encounter them,"

"So it's technically a race to the bottom of the labyrinth with a mixture of a free-for-all battle," thought Naruto.

"You must also beware of the ghost data, these are what you would consider to be phantoms of the participants from previous tournaments so I would advise that you exercise great caution if you meet one," BB waved a hand and cards appeared before them to take "Those cards will grant you access to your rooms to rest as the tournament shall begin tomorrow," she pointed at a building behind them before disappearing in a flash of light.

"Hmph, how interesting…this endeavors might not bore me after all. I'm off to rest in preparation for my eventual victory," Gilgamesh turned around and left for the dormitory.

"I'll be heading to the library to learn more about this place," Nero was the next to leave, each and every one of the group except for Naruto and Caster.

"Aren't you going somewhere?" asked Naruto.

"Actually…I don't know where to go," said Caster looking sheepish.

"I'm thinking of exploring the place, you can come along if you want,"

Caster smiled with her tail wagging to and fro "I would like to!"

With that, Naruto and Caster took to exploring the academy. They met with the students who greeted them in friendly manners despite the fact that they were nothing more than puppets created by the Moon Cell. The duo visited places like the church where they met someone who was very knowledgeable of the tournament, the library as well as other places. At the moment Naruto and Caster were in the school building and were climbing the stairs up to the second floor when a black blur crashed into Naruto, knocking him to the ground.

"Maelstrom, are you okay?!" Caster called out worriedly.

Naruto groaned in pain "Owwww, my skull…ringing like a bell," he reached his hand out to helps when it grabbed onto something soft and squishy which resulted in a moan.

"A, ah…! Well…that's impolite, you know. Huhuhuhu, have you figured out what you're touching…?" a feminine voice spoke out.

The gears in Naruto's head were turning as he slowly came up with an equation: The feeling of a body on his + a soft squishy feeling + a feminine voice equals… Naruto quickly jumped to his feet with the woman in tow and jumped back with a blush on his face and bowing in apology "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" he lifted his head to look at the woman.

She appears to be of oriental descent and appeared to be in her mid-twenties, she wears a black tight dress with a slit up the left side which exposes her leg and a white habit resembling a hood with a large golden necklace wrapped around it. Naruto blushed a bit upon seeing the size of her chest and his hand twitched.

" **I always suspected that you liked them big, makes me wonder why you chased after that pink haired girl who's as flat as a chopping board,"** said Kurama with a smirk.

" _Now's not the time for that Kurama!"_ thought Naruto.

" **Sure, if you say so,"**

The woman chuckled in amusement "It's quite alright, I should apologize for falling on you as well as thank you for catching me, what would be the name of my savior?"

"It's Maelstrom," said Naruto, then Caster appeared by his side and grabbed his arm while glaring at the woman.

"And my name is Caster, you should have been more careful or you could have hurt him," said the fox girl.

"My most sincere apologies, I will make sure to thank you properly. I have to go prepare for class now, so if you'll excuse me," the woman walked by and as she did, Naruto heard her whisper "I look forward to our time together, lovely young master,"

Naruto turned to ask her what exactly she meant by that, but she had already left. He noticed that Caster was still holding on to his arm with a frown on her face.

"What's with that woman bumping into you like that? You would have been hurt," said Caster.

"I'm fine now Caster, so let's continue with checking this place out," said Naruto, this had Caster wagging her tail again and nodding in agreement.

They continued to walk around for a bit before stopping before a door which had the symbol of a cross on it.

"I'm guessing this is the infirmary, let's go inside and say hello since we would be coming here to recover from battles often," said Naruto.

"Sure," said Caster.

They went inside and saw a lot of cots with grey curtains in between them, then they saw a girl who turned around and were surprised upon seeing her appearance. She has long purple hair reaching to her feet with a red ribbon tied to the left side of her head, she also wears the school's uniform with a short length lab coat.

" _Who is this girl and why does she look just like BB?"_ thought Naruto.

The lookalike waved at them smiling shyly before speaking "Oh hello there, my name is Sakura Matou and I am the AI in charge of the infirmary,"

" _Sakura huh…,"_ Naruto smiled warmly "It's nice to meet you too, my name is Maelstrom and this is my friend here Caster,"

Caster waved at Sakura "Hi!"

"Thank you and I welcome you to the infirmary at any time during your stay here in the academy until the end of the tournament," said Sakura.

"Well we're currently exploring the academy before heading back to the dorms to rest for the tournament tomorrow but we'll be sure to come by from time to time," said Naruto.

"Me too, we could talk about stuff," said Caster.

"I look forward to your next visit, Naruto-san, Caster-san," said Sakura with a smile.

The duo bade their farewell and closed the door to the infirmary and left the school building and made their way over to where the dormitory is. Naruto escorted Caster to her private room before climbing up the stairs to reach the roof to gaze upon the setting sun.

"So the tourney begins tomorrow, what do you think of things will be going Kurama?" asked Naruto.

"I pretty much understood the rules and how are to be done, we just need to be on our guard for whatever we run into when wandering through the labyrinth. But I still feel rather skeptical about a spiritual computer capable of granting any sort of wish whether or not it's true," said Kurama.

"We'll just have to see when we reach the end of the labyrinth, if true then it might be our way home," thought Naruto.

Then C-Naruto called out to him "Hey boss, the drones are leading the NetOps to their rooms to rest and there is a computer system there so I can connect to you when the battle starts and even a machine to recharge battlechips,"

"Okay then, but keep those chakra recharge tags to avoid getting the HoloBrace to run out of energy,"

"Okay boss, see you tomorrow,"

Naruto let out a sign and was about to leave when he noticed a shadow by his side, he quickly turned and saw a little girl staring straight at him. She is a girl who appears to be eight years possesses silver which are braided, she wears a light blue dress with a lot of frills and a looped skirt, and a blue cap on her head giving her the appearance of a doll.

" _Where did she come from? I didn't hear any footsteps or even sense her breathing,"_ thought Naruto.

" **She just appeared behind you just like that,"** said Kurama.

Both continued to stare at each other for a while with neither side speaking, Naruto gazed into the girl's eyes and could see untold sadness and loneliness in her eyes, something he was all too familiar with. He only blinked once and the girl was gone much to his confusion, he looked around but couldn't find any trace of the mysterious girl.

" _Who was that girl?"_

" **I don't know, but I can tell that she has developed an interest in you,"**

"We can think on this later, let's just get to our room and rest for tomorrow," Naruto walked away not knowing that he had caught the attention of many in this Holy Grail War.

* * *

 **This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto and the others have arrived at the venue and learnt that some sort of ancient computer is capable of granting wishes, which makes things a whole lot more interesting and crazy. Naruto runs into a girl who looks just like BB, a nun who called him a master and then another who simply stared at him before disappearing. What are the mysteries behind these girls and does it mean trouble for the blond ninja.**

 **For those who are familiar with Fate/Extra CCC, I changed the rules a bit with slight elements to Sword Art Online and this also gives you the opportunity to throw a suggestions of who Naruto would face down as a Ghost Data along with the other competitors.**

 **For much better understanding, the labyrinth has five floors per level and two halves of a key are required to unlock the next level which only opens for the one possessing the key while the rest must collect their own. The key fragments can be found hidden in one of the floors, picked up as drops from ghost data or won off competitors when challenged and defeated. Be sure to look forward to the next chapter as the battles begin there.**

 **For those wondering who exactly the participants are, here's the list**

 **NetOps and NetNavis**

 **Kuro =EMIYA**

 **Kid Gil =Gilgamesh**

 **Bazett =Saber Lily**

 **C-Naruto =Naruto himself**

 **Solo NetNavis**

 **Nero  
Tamamo no Mae  
Elizabeth Bathory  
Cu Chulainn**

 **More might appear in the tournament, so read and review as always.**

 **This is Hussbek from Ghana**

 **Signing out**


	7. Round 1…Fight!

**Maelstrom EXE.**

"Normal speech"

" **Tailed Beast speech"**

[Talking from the PET]

 **Chapter 5: Round 1…Fight!**

Naruto opened his eyes and sat up from his bed, he looked around to find himself in a room with numerous similarities to his apartment back in Konoha. He jumped off and stretched to work out the kinks in his body before doing a few warm-up exercises. Then he felt the connection to his PET being established and his clone called out to him.

"Hey boss, we just got a message!" said C-Naruto.

"Alright then, let's see what it is," Naruto waved a have before him for a holograph of a message icon to appear, then he tapped it to display the message.

"Too all the participants of the Moon Cell Tournament, please gather at the Sakura tree located at the side of the school," Naruto read through it "Well I better prep up and get going then,"

"All of the battlechips are good to go!" said C-Naruto.

"Gotcha!" Naruto then checked up on his Chakra Blade and the settings on his Aurum Blade before he left his room. He was walking along the aisle towards the stairs when he saw that strange girl whom he encountered back on the roof, she glanced to the side and saw him before quickly looking away "Kurama, it's that girl again,"

"I know, perhaps you should talk to her and find more," said Kurama.

Naruto walked to closer and calmly spoke up "Excuse me but didn't I see you before yesterday at the roof?"

The girl looked at Naruto with surprise before responding to him "Aren't you…afraid of me?"

This question caused Naruto to quirk an eyebrow, what does she mean by that? "Uh no, I don't see or know anything to be scared of you. Why do you ask?"

However, Naruto's answer seemed to have made the mysterious girl smile at him happily "Alice's so happy to hear that! Will you be Alice's friend, please?"

"Uh sure, if that's okay with you I don't mind. Alice-chan is it?" said Naruto, he was confused at first until he noted the tone of how she asked _"She's lonely, isn't she?"_

Alice beamed at him "That's right! Alice's name is Alice! Will you play with Alice?" Naruto was about to reply when he heard someone call out to him from behind.

"Hey Maelstrom!" he turned to see Caster running and waving cheerily towards him "Why are you standing in the middle of the hall?"

"Hey Caster, I was just talking to…huh?" Naruto had turned back to face Alice only to find her gone without a trace "Where did she go?"

" **I didn't even sense her leave,"** said Kurama.

"Who?" Caster looked confused.

"I was just talking to a little girl just a moment ago before you showed up and now she's gone,"

"I didn't see anyone, anyway we should get going to the Sakura tree or we'll be late,"

"Okay then,"

Naruto followed after Caster, but unknown to them was that Alice reappeared in the halls with a melancholic smile.

"Alice guesses she'll have to wait a little until you can play with her," then she disappeared again.

By then, Naruto and Caster made their way out of the dormitory and arrived at the Sakura tree close to the school where they saw that the other competitors were already there along with BB. They all turned to look at the late arrivals much to their awkwardness.

"So you've arrived, so what pray tell was your reason for such tardiness?" asked Nero.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly before attempting to come up with an excuse "Uh sorry about that, we got a little sidetracked and before realizing it, got lost on the path of life,"

Everyone including Caster herself were looking at him like he had gone crazy with that statement.

" **What on earth came upon you to use one of your sensei's lame excuses?"** asked Kurama incredulously.

" _I don't know Kurama, it just came out like that!"_

"You could have come up with a better one, bud," said Lancer.

"That has to be the most piteous excuse I've ever heard, quite an audible annoyance to my ears," said Gilgamesh.

"Hmph, quite typical of a pig," said Elizabeth.

Some shook their heads in amusement while others were simply nonchalant at Naruto's extremely weak excuse and BB giggled silently before clapping her hands to attain their attention.

"Now that you have all assembled here, I would like to go over the rules of the tournament once more. Inside the Sakura Labyrinth are several levels with different environments, each possessing two floors. Your objective will be to find to halves of a key which will unlock a gateway to the next stage," BB held a hand out to display a hologram of what appears to be a gray stone tablet with the etchings of a blue moon which are split apart **(AN Think of the Moon Tablet from Sonic Unleashed PS2 version)** "These pieces of the keys could be found hidden inside a chest or acquired by defeating a ghost data of previous participants," the hologram disappears and BB turns her attention back to Naruto and the others "There's also the third option whereby the participants are allowed to battle for possession of the moon tablet pieces,"

"So to say that we have to collect these keys by all means and get to the bottom of the labyrinth with the first being the one to win the tournament, am I right?" asked Lancer.

"That is indeed correct," said BB.

"What happens to those defeated?" asked Caster.

"They will be sent to a cyberspace known as the Zero D where they will lie in wait until the end of the tournament," BB replied, the NetOps were surprised to hear that and responded as such.

"What?! We can understand our NetNavis being unable to jack out of the system but sending them elsewhere isn't what we agreed upon!" said Kuro angrily.

"There's no need for such anger, I assure you that your NetNavi shall remain unharmed and be returned immediately upon completion of the tourney," said BB.

"As long as no harm comes to the NetNavi, I would be willing to bear with this," said Bazett.

"Very well then, as of now…the Holy Moon Grail War is now underway," said BB.

Then the Sakura Tree suddenly rose up to the air and revealing a white swirling portal much to their surprise.

"This is the entrance to the labyrinth, know that upon gaining access to the next stage you would automatically be warped back to the academy to rest for the next day in order to advance to yet another level…I wish you all luck," before disappearing, BB took a lingering glance at Naruto and then she left.

"Well then, let's get this show on the road," Lancer said before being the first to step through the portal followed by Archer and Saber.

"I'm going to do my very best! I'll catch you guys later!" Caster was the next to jump through.

"Hmph, be sure assured that we'll be opponents should we encounter each other in the battlefield," said Nero before walking into the portal.

Gilgamesh simply huffed haughtily "Normally I would have been the first to enter, but as a king I must be generous to the lesser ones at times…now then I'll be on my way," then he walked through the portal with Naruto being the last.

"Well Kurama, are you ready?" thought Naruto.

" **I've always been ready since the day I was sealed into you,"** Kurama replied.

"Alright then, let's go!" Naruto dashed into the portal and disappeared. Unknown to him, someone was watching him from the rooftop of the school who was none other than Kiara with a smile on her face.

"Fufufufufu, I finally get to see what made you so intriguing…Naruto," said Kiara.

Naruto emerged from the portal to find himself standing in the middle of a small clearing whilst surrounded by a thick forest with giant cubes, strings and elevated pathways made of data around him plus he could see a clear blue sky above him.

"So the first level is a forest huh? A perfect place for a Leaf Shinobi like me," said Naruto with a look of nostalgia.

" **We'll need to start things out by scouting the area, I suggest that you not using your shadow clones to avoid being detected by the others during the search. After finding the first half of the key, then we'll make our way to the second floor to continue,"** said Kurama.

"I got ya," said Naruto, then he took off through the forest and ran up a tree trunk to land on the branch. He leapt from tree to tree all the while scouting the area for any signs of an enemy or pieces of the moon tablet. He flipped off the branch that he was on to slide down a rather slippery hill and was about to take a step forward when he heard a strange whirring sound nearby. Naruto immediately took cover in the bushes to hide before peeking out to see the source of the sound.

It was a large sphere the size of a beach ball with one half white while the other dark blue with circuits and a glowing magenta eye at the center of its now identified body.

"I guess that's an enemy of the labyrinth," said Naruto.

" **Apparently, best you get rid of the thing before it might alert the others,"** said Kurama.

"Got it…Cyber Shuriken!" Naruto burst out from the bushes with said weapons appearing in his hands which he then threw at the enemy, inflicting damage upon it. The creature turned towards him with the eye glowing much brighter than before as a white beam of energy straight at him. Naruto reacted quickly by summoning the Aurum Blade in hand and dashed to the side whilst firing rapidly. The Spherical Eye darted to the side to avoid most of the shots before retaliating with more of the energy beams for Naruto to cartwheel to the side.

"Use this boss! Boomerang battle chip in, download!" C-Naruto inserted the chip into the PET.

Naruto's free arm transformed into an armament with a V-shaped boomerang attached to it, he swung his arm to launch the boomerang at the Spherical Eye but it dodged the incoming projectile and fired another energy beam, the cyber ninja had already charged up a shot with the Aurum Blade and fired at the beam to cancel it out. The enemy was about to attack again before a white blur sliced through, revealing that it was the boomerang which was thrown earlier. Naruto raised the armament to catch it before fading away altogether as he watched his opponent disappear in pixels.

"Well that takes care of it," said Naruto with a smile.

" **Well don't get cocky, we just got started. Now resume the search for the Moon tablet pieces before the others do,"** said Kurama.

"Roger that," Naruto leapt up to a tree branch and was once again on the move to check out the current level of the first stage. He encountered several more of those spherical eyes but were able to take them on without use of battlechips as he now knows of their battle style. Naruto was running through the forest when he saw something from the corner and stopped to investigate what is was. It turned out to be some sort of tunnel leading downwards to who knows where "I'm guessing that this tunnel leads to the second level,"

" **Maybe so, but we'll come back to it later since we have yet to find the relic on this current level,"**

Naruto nodded in agreement before leaving the area, he was moving along when he heard the now familiar whirring sound of the Spherical Eyes and it appears to be a group of them too. Naruto thought deeply for a few moments before coming up with an idea. A couple minutes later, a squad of clones rushed out of the bushes towards the Spherical Eyes who immediately turned and proceeded to fire energy beams, the clones brandished their Chakra Blades to deflect the incoming projectiles and continued with the assault. Suddenly, a shadow burst from above the trees and dove towards, revealing it to be the original Naruto.

"Here goes, Multiple MiniBomb battle chip in, and download!" C-Naruto held many battlechips in between his fingers and proceeded to rapidly insert in them into the PET, a pair of blue spheres with a green stripe materialized in each of his hand every time he flings one towards the enemies below, causing consecutive explosions until he landed on the ground filled with craters and there was no trace of the enemy.

"Well that takes cares of them…hmm?" Naruto noticed something glinting from the corner of his eye and turned to see that was coming from a small hole in a nearby tree, he cautiously approached the hole before placing a hand inside when he felt something "I wonder if…it is!" Naruto pulled the item out to see that it was the first half of the relic that he was looking for "I found the piece of the Moon Tablet!"

" **Good going, but we're just getting started. Return to tunnel earlier so that we can get to the next level,"** said Kurama.

Naruto retraced his steps back to where he found the tunnel and went inside, it was a bit dark within the passage but he finally made it to the other side and found himself in another part of the forest which appears much thicker than before. He took to the trees once more to scope out the area all the while taking down any Spherical Eye that make an appearance. He continued to search for the second half of the relic but had yet to find it.

"So far there's no sign of the second half Kurama, maybe I'm searching in the wrong places?" asked Naruto confusedly.

" **That depends on the way you look, but be careful as I've been sensing strange energy fluctuations ever since we entered this level,"**

"Got it,"

The blond ninja then wandered into a rather large clearing in the forest and was halfway through when suddenly some sort of holographic sphere emblazoned with the image of a lance appeared before him. Naruto immediately jumped backwards and conjured a cyber-kunai in a defensive stance.

"What's that?! An enemy?" asked Naruto confusedly.

"I don't know, but be on your guard!" said Kurama.

The sphere pulsed for a moment before a column of data appeared around it before dissipating to reveal a very handsome man with quirky long black hair which is combed backwards in a rough fashion that has a strand hanging down his face, he wears a dark teal sleeveless outfit similar to that of Lancer. Naruto took note that he held a pair of spears with a scarlet long spear in his right hand and a golden short spear in his left with both wrapped up with purple linen cloth.

" _Who is this guy? Could he be one of the ghost data we were told about?"_ thought Naruto.

The mysterious man opened his eyes and looked around before settling on a rather precautious Naruto, then he muttered out loud to himself "It appears that I've been chosen to be your opponent, but first allow me to introduce myself. I am Zero Lancer, the Loyal Knight of the Fianna,"

Naruto hesitated a bit before responding "And I am Maelstrom, a Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village,"

"It is a pleasure to meet someone so young and yet appears to be quite strong to have been invited to this tournament. I've been given undeserving honor to take arms once more, and I will not let such a chance go to waste. Come forth and let us cross blades, young Maelstrom!" Zero Lancer slung the scarlet long spear over his shoulder while positioning the golden short spear a few meters away from his waist.

"Ready when you are, Zero Lancer!" Naruto took a fighting stance, ready to call on any of his weapons.

" **Naruto, be very careful when facing him. Wielding two spears of varying lengths is a testament of how highly proficient he is in battle, not to mention that those spears could have special abilities if they were to be wrapped in cloth,"** said Kurama.

"Let's begin!" Zero Lancer charged forwards at Naruto.

"Okay!" Naruto charged right back at him to begin the battle.

 **Music Start: Sonic and the Black Knight OST; Fight the Knight**

Naruto started off by drawing out the Chakra Blade from the sheath and launched a horizontal slash, Zero Lancer parried with the scarlet spear and thrust the golden spear forwards, and Naruto quickly summoned the Aurum Blade to deflect the attack before dashing backwards whilst firing several plasma shots in motion. The spearman darted left and right to evade the incoming projectiles and resumed his pursuit on the blond Shinobi and quickly caught up to him before swinging the long spear to attack like a whip.

Naruto raised both weapons in a cross position to block, however the swing's impact was powerful enough to knock him back a few meters much to his shock. He switched over to offense as he slashed at Zero Lancer with his Chakra Blade and Aurum Blade in blade mode, the opponent expertly deflected each and every one of the incoming attacks.

"Hang on boss, Airshot battlechip in, download!" C-Naruto slotted in a chip, the Aurum Blade disappeared before Naruto's arm transformed into a small cannon. He took aim and fired a rapid ball of air which slammed into Zero Lancer's chest faster than he could react, sending him skidding back several meters.

Naruto's hand reverted to normal as he focused on his chakra "Chakra Shuriken!" a couple of said tools appeared his hand before he flung them at Zero Lancer, the spearman brought his golden spear forward and twirled it rapidly like a propeller to deflect the projectiles . Naruto continued to throw shurikens while running in a zigzag fashion until finally drawing close which he performed a jumping roundhouse kick. Zero Lancer dashed backwards to avoid the hit and retaliated with a vertical swing of the scarlet spear, the blond ninja hastily twisted his body to turn and block the strike, knocking him to the ground and rolling back away from him to retake his battle stance.

"Most intriguing, you have no sense of style and yet your battle instincts as well as reflexes grant you an unorthodox way of fighting. Though I can tell that you're not fighting with all of your might," said Zero Lancer with a smirk.

Naruto frowned a little at being pointed out "I could say the same with you Zero Lancer-san, those purple cloths on your spears tells me that you aren't going all out on me either, so it's only right that I do the same until either of us decide to get serious,"

Zero Lancer chuckled "Quite true, I apologize for such behavior. If you wish for me to battle with all my might then I shall comply if only you do the same,"

"You got yourself a deal," said Naruto.

Zero Lancer gripped both spears as the purple cloth on both shredded into pieces to reveal them as they released a strong visible pulse of energy, which alone told Naruto that whatever abilities they possess has been fully activated.

"Here I come, Maelstrom!"

Zero Lancer dashed towards Naruto and began to unleash a flurry of stabs. Naruto hastily changed the grip of his Chakra Blade to reverse and formed a kunai in hand to deflect the incoming attacks for a few moments before finding the opportunity to create some distance. He tossed the Chakra Blade into the air before crossing the middle and index fingers of both hands together before calling out "Shadow Clone jutsu!" there was a large puff of smoke which soon faded away to reveal a group of duplicates much to Zero Lancer's shock before smirking once again.

"Let's get him, guys!" the original Naruto caught the Chakra Blade in his hands and pointed it at Zero Lancer with the clones drawing out their own Chakra Blades or kunai before running towards their target. Zero Lancer smirked in anticipation before charging right back at the small army, He constantly stabbed with every moment of twirling the scarlet spear to force any extra clones from overwhelming him and utilizing the golden spear for rapid counters all the while veering left and right to dodge any thrown shurikens and kunai. He suddenly heard an unfamiliar sound from above and looked up to see Naruto quickly diving towards him with a blue spiraling sphere in his hand.

"Rasengan!"

Naruto thrusts out the jutsu at Zero Lancer who immediately dashed to the side and out of range, the sphere crashed into the ground resulting in the creation of a large crater.

"Most impressive young warrior, your abilities must have earned quite some praise in your village," said Zero Lancer.

Naruto smiled sadly "Not at first, but they eventually came around. _At least I hoped that they did_ ," then he charged once more, parrying Zero Lancer's spear strikes with his Chakra Blade as fast as he could.

"Vulcan battle chip in, download!" C-Naruto slotted in a chip, then Naruto's free hand transformed into a firearm of multiple rotating barrels which started spinning before firing rapidly at the target. Zero Lancer jumped backwards and started running sideways, just keeping out of the line of fire. Naruto kept trying to keep a beat on him but the Vulcan eventually ran out of ammo. His opponent stopped in one place and positioned both spears on either side, telling that he was going to charge.

" _Hey Kurama, I have an idea,"_ thought Naruto.

" **What's the plan then?"** asked Kurama.

" _When Zero Lancer and I charge at each other, I'll use a Rasengan on the long spear to disarm him whilst using the Chakra Blade to parry the golden spear. Afterwards, I'll overwhelm him with a Multi Shadow Clone jutsu before wrapping it up with an Uzumaki 2k barrage,"_

Kurama nodded in approval on the plan **"A plausible idea, it would reduce his ability to multitask,"**

Naruto formed a shadow clone and began working on a Rasengan in his left hand while holding the Chakra Blade in a reverse grip on his right hand. Zero Lancer grinned in anticipation as he charged forwards with Naruto doing the same, both sides lashed out with their attacks…Naruto was able deflect the golden spear but he felt pain shoot through his wrist all the way to the elbow causing him to lose control on the Rasengan as it dissipated. What's worse was that his right arm slacked for Zero Lancer to capitalize on it and slash the side of the waist with the golden spear. Naruto tumbled to the ground and rolled away from Zero Lancer before getting up on one knee with a hand on the wound while blue data could be seen leaking from the wound on his left hand.

" _What just happen?! I couldn't have missed with the Rasengan, it was spot on!"_ thought Naruto confusedly.

" **You didn't miss the attack, I saw the spear actually phase through the Rasengan and cut your arm,"** said Kurama.

" _Could it be an ability of the spear? Anyway I need to heal quickly_ …Naruto!" Naruto called out.

"Already on it! Recov80 battle chip in, download!" C-Naruto slotted the chip into the PET and a pillar of white light came upon Naruto for a moment before fading away…but only the wound on his arm was healed but not the one at the waist.

" _What's going on now?! Why aren't all of my wounds healing?"_

" **Kit, we have a problem. Something is preventing my chakra from healing you!"**

Zero Lancer was apparently amused by the look of confusion on his opponent's face and called out to him "I can see that you've realized your current situation, and I'm sure you've figured out by now that it was because of my spears,"

Naruto got to his feet and frowned at Zero Lancer "Those spears of yours have some sort of ability, don't they?"

"You're actually right about that," the spearman held the scarlet spear before him "My Gáe Dearg is a demonic spear capable of piercing through any projection made of energy…" then he held out the golden spear "…and my Gáe Buidhe inflicts wounds that cannot be healed naturally or with outside sources,"

" _Damn, it's like fighting Neji during the Chuunin exams all over again. This wound is definitely going make it hard for me to defend against his strikes, I'd better take it from a distance,"_ Naruto created another small army of shadow clones to attack.

Zero Lancer was at the ready and proceeded to attack them with fervor, he rapidly stabbed and parried with the clones and at times evaded any shurikens and kunai thrown at him.

While the opponent was occupied, C-Naruto swung into action and slotted in the following chips "Sword, Widesword and Longsword battle chip in, download!" then Naruto merged all three sword chips into a single purple blade held over his head.

"Program advance; Beta Sword!" then he swung it forward to launch a large crescent wave that consumed both the shadow clones and Zero Lancer in a bright flash of light "That's should do it,"

"Indeed, if I had stayed long enough for the technique to strike me,"

Hearing a familiar voice from behind, Naruto quickly turned around only for Zero Lancer to use the butt end of the scarlet spear to slam him in the head to make him stumble before unleashing a combo of rapid stabs with the golden spear. Naruto used the Chakra Blade to quickly block as much as he could before dashing away to avoid any more of the onslaught.

" _Dammit, at this rate I won't be able to fight properly at all,"_ a soft glow caught his eye and he saw that the Konoha symbol on the Chakra Blade was glowing to signal the ready use of the Overflow State _"It's fully charged, but how can I use it when that red spear could pierce through it? Hang on, there's something weird here…one of the clones used a cyber-kunai to attack but Zero Lancer blocked with the red spear but why didn't it get dispersed? Unless…I see, so that's how it works,"_

" **Heads up kit, Zero Lancer is attacking!"** said Kurama.

"I believe it's time to end this battle," Zero Lancer held up his spears as they glowed in their respective colored auras before rushing forward to appear right in front of Naruto and stabbed him with the scarlet spear which made him fall to the ground, then the spearman on top of the spear and kicked off it to spin around and strike Naruto with the golden spear about three times before jumping up into the air and throwing it onto him "Tale of Tragic Love: Devotion to Grainne,"

Zero Lancer summoned the spears back to his side and bowed to his opponent as a form of respect when the body suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke much to his surprise, then the ground at his feet burst open and Naruto rose up with a flaming fist which he used to punch Zero Lancer in the face and sent him flying backwards. Zero Lancer got back up still looking surprised as well as impressed.

"Most impressive of you being able to dodge my most powerful attack, so pray tell how were you able to evade?" asked Zero Lancer.

"I had my NetOp use a double download of AntiDmg and Areasteal to evade and then Firehit to surprise you from underground. Now it's time for _me_ to end this! _Kurama, please lend me your chakra!_ "

" **You got it!"**

Red chakra burst out of Naruto's body and swirled around him in the form of tails before forming a layer around his body, his blue eyes changed to red and became slitted, and his hair became longer and spikier. Despite the chakra not being able to heal him like usual it was able to dull the pain enough to function more properly now. Naruto touched the Konoha symbol on the Chakra Blade to activate its Overflow State as blue chakra surged out of the blade and took shape of a longer variation before summoning the Aurum Blade to his other hand.

Naruto lowered himself close to the ground ready to sprint "Get ready Zero Lancer, cause here I come!" then he dashed forward at blurring speeds, Zero Lancer quickly crossed both spears just in time to block the double strike from Naruto, however the impact was unexpected as the blond ninja continued to push him back resulting in a long trench along the ground. Naruto suddenly broke away from the clash and proceed to run in circles around his opponent all the while firing with the Aurum Blade. Zero Lancer continuously twirled his spears to deflect the incoming shots as fast as he could although some of them managed to get.

" _Such power and speed, he fights with the ferocity of a wild animal! Where did he attain such strength?"_ thought Zero Lancer.

Then Naruto came to a complete halt on the right Zero Lancer and started swinging the Chakra Blade in a flurry to launch a barrage of slash waves straight at him, the spearman took evasive action to avoid the swift incoming projectiles before hearing rapid footsteps and turned to Naruto a few meters away launch a punch in direction of the golden spear, generating a shockwave to knock it out of his hand

"Overslash!" he put away the Aurum Blade before gripping the chakra blade with both hands and rearing back then he swung it forward to launch a large wave of chakra that sliced through the golden spear which led to a yellow aura gushing out in a whirlwind before disappearing into nothingness, Naruto then felt his wounds heal and his body back in good condition "It's just like I thought, destroying the spear would forcefully deactivate its ability to forbid healing,"

"Most astute of you, Maelstrom. I am truly enjoying this battle, but it is far from over," Naruto noticed that the Konoha symbol was glowing again but this time with a red light, he touched it only for the Chakra Blade to surge once more with red chakra obviously belonging to Kurama. Naruto positioned the blade to his side and pointing behind while Zero Lancer held the scarlet spear ready to charge.

Both sides stared at each other in silence as if waiting for a signal, then suddenly they moved at high-speed and passing each other before standing away in silence once more. There was a clattering meaning that a weapon has been dropped…the sound came from…Zero Lancer who collapsed to the ground.

 **Music End**

The red chakra around Naruto faded away as he sheathed the now normal Chakra Blade before slowly approaching the defeated spearman. Zero Lancer rolled onto his back and smiled weakly upon setting eyes in the young blond.

"So…this battle ends in my loss and your victory. Regardless, it was a battle worth partaking and I am honored to have a battled a warrior such as yourself," said Zero Lancer.

"Yeah, but I'm sure you would have beaten me if you had a NetOp backing you up," said Naruto truthfully, without Kurama's help he would have lost in the end too.

"Even so, a loss is a loss. I can only wish you good fortune in the battles ahead. I bid you farewell, Maelstrom of the Hidden Leaf village,"

"You too, Zero Lancer of the Fianna," Naruto bowed his head in respect of his opponent as he watched the body break into small pieces of data and disperse into the sky. Then streaks of white light swirled around before fading away to reveal the second piece of the Moon Tablet "Looks like we got the second piece after that fight,"

" **Well let's combine them, so that we can return to the academy for some rest. Today was a rather tough start,"** said Kurama.

Naruto nodded in affirmation and clicked both fragments together to form a single artifact which then released a beam of light towards the ground to form a small circular platform with a metallic outline and a glowing bright blue center with the symbol of a moon at a focal point. He stepped onto the portal and felt himself being transferred before opening his eyes to see that he is staying in front of the Sakura tree.

"Well, time to get some rest," Naruto barely took a step forward when he heard a whooshing sound and looked back to see Caster being transferred as well. The fox girl looked around confusedly before seeing Naruto to which she smiled happily and skipped over to him.

"Hiya Maelstrom, I see you passed the first stage of the labyrinth," said Caster.

Naruto nodded in affirmation "Yup, I found mine hidden in a hollow tree on the first level and ended up fighting a ghost data on the second level to get the second piece,"

Caster let out a gasp at what she just heard "I found both pieces in the second and fourth floor, was the ghost data that strong like BB said?"

"She wasn't joking about how tough they were, the one I fought was a spearman like Lancer except that he wielded two spears at the same time with scary abilities…," Naruto continued with his tale and Caster listened very attentively as both walked back to the dormitory.

* * *

The dark room, BB and the two unknown females were watching video of Naruto battling against Zero Lancer with looks of interest.

"So he possesses great power within himself and yet doesn't flaunt it like most males," said the girl with needlelike feet.

"Then it means that he wouldn't be mean if we met…I hope," said the girl with giant claws.

"Indeed, so far he along with the other participants have gone through the first stage, but the difficulty will continue to rise as they venture deeper into the labyrinth. I can hope that our cute yellow fox will survive till the end and we could grant his wish," said BB with a soft smile on her face but looking deep into her eye will you find traces of darkness.

* * *

 **This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, the tournament has finally began and Naruto was off on a good start acquiring the a first pair of the Moon Tablet after finding the first and getting the second after a tough battle with a ghost data. Apparently the other participants were also able to pass the first, not to mention several girls really have an eye out for our favorite blond hero, stay tuned to find out.**

 **NetOps and NetNavis**

 **Kuro =EMIYA**

 **Kid Gil =Gilgamesh**

 **Bazett =Saber Lily**

 **C-Naruto =Naruto himself**

 **Solo NetNavis**

 **Nero (Red Saber)  
Tamamo no Mae (Caster)  
Elizabeth Bathory (Lancer)  
Cu Chulainn (Lancer)**

 **So read and review as always.**

 **This is Hussbek from Ghana**

 **Signing out.**


	8. A Play Date and 2nd Round

**Maelstrom EXE.**

"Normal speech"

" **Tailed Beast speech"**

[Talking from the PET]

 **Chapter 6: a Play Date and 2nd Round**

It is the second day of the Moon Cell Tournament and Naruto is already awake and was currently walking through the school grounds by himself. There was another message this morning from BB, apparently the next stage will commence at night and that the participants are allowed spend the time before then on whatever they want, even revisiting the previous levels in the Sakura Labyrinth. The blonde cyber ninja contemplated whether or not he should go and decided not to, right now he's walking while deep in thought with his mind straying to a certain person…a girl to be exact.

"I wonder where Alice has gone to? I haven't seen her since I got back from the forest stage of the labyrinth," said Naruto.

" **I don't know, but I advise that you be careful around her,"** said Kurama.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow in confusion "What do you mean by that?"

" **Out of everyone here, you're the only one she seems to appear to which leads me to think that she wants something from you,"**

"But…those eyes of hers, they show how lonely she is,"

" **Just be careful, ok?"**

Naruto was about to say more when he heard a familiar voice coming from behind him.

"Ah, Maelstrom-san,"

He turned around to see that it was BB who was standing behind him with a smile on her face to which he returned with a smile of his own.

"Oh hello BB-chan, I thought you were busy arranging for tonight's next stage?" he asked curiously.

" _He added chan to my name,"_ she thought mirthfully "I was, I just left the rest to my associates to complete the rest while I decided to take a stroll and then I met you,"

"Oh I see," Naruto nodded in understanding.

"So what are you up to at the moment?" she asked curiously.

"Kinda wandering around at the moment before the time comes for the second stage," Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly causing BB to giggle.

"May I suggest the library? It would do you a lot of good to acquire information in preparation for the competition in future," said BB with a smile.

"Uh…I'm not exactly a book person but I'm not one for turning down advice either. So I'll be going to the library then, thanks though BB-chan," Naruto away waving his hand with BB doing the same.

"Okay Maelstrom-san, I'll be looking forward to your future battles," BB watched the blond leave before reaching into her pocket and bringing out a photo of Naruto smiling just now, letting herself coo at it "Wouldn't want a kind cutie like you to be defeated so early in this tournament," but then she glanced to the side to see a nun walking away with a frown on her face.

Naruto had arrived at the school building and ascended the flight of stairs to the second floor in direction of the library, when suddenly he heard another familiar voice from behind him.

"Mister!" it was Alice who ran up to him happily.

"Oh Alice-chan, I was wondering where you were since yesterday," said Naruto, despite Kurama warning him about her, he couldn't help but sympathize with her unknown past.

"Well Alice saw that you were busy, so Alice decided to wait until you weren't busy anymore and we could play. So can we play?" Alice looked at Naruto pleadingly. Naruto recognizes those eyes, it's like staring at a mirror…a young child desperate for any kind of attention.

"Yeah…we can play since I have some time," Naruto with a smile, no point in denying a girl something he didn't get until years later.

" **Aren't you supposed to be heading to the library like you told BB?"** asked Kurama.

"I can simply send a shadow clone to the library and read for me," thought Naruto.

Alice hopped up and down happily at his answer "Yay! I knew that you would play with Alice! She is me and I am her! We are ourselves!"

Naruto blinked confusedly at what she just said…is she speaking in the third person or talking about herself and another person?

"Let's start now! Tag, you're it! Alice will be waiting for you in the Sakura labyrinth!" Alice tapped Naruto and scampered off before what she said registered in his mind.

" _The labyrinth?! But that place is dangerous for a girl like her,"_ thought Naruto.

" **Like I said before, there's more to her than we know. Just be cautious,"** said Kurama.

"Right, I'm going after her," After sending a shadow clone to the library, Naruto ran down the stairs and out of the school building in direction of the Sakura Tree, the portal opened up for him to pass through quickly and was back in the forest stage. Upon arrival, Naruto started looking around for Alice in hopes of finding her before any of the enemies show up and attack "Ah there she is!" he finally saw her standing in a small clearing ahead and made his way towards her.

Alice brightened up upon seeing Naruto approach her "Ah mister! Over here, over here! You're 'It', so if you catch Alice, you win!"

"But Alice, this place is dangerous. Why don't we-" Naruto spoke but Alice cut him off.

"All right, ready…Go!" Alice turned and ran deeper into the forest before Naruto could say anything else.

"Damn it! I gotta go after her before anything bad happens to her!" Naruto took off after the girl while weaving through the tall trees and leaping over bushes. He caught a glimpse of her running behind a tree then quickly dashed over and looked behind only to find her gone. Naruto looked around before seeing Alice running off in another direction but finding it strange at how she got there so fast "What's with this girl running all over the place? She's moving too fast,"

" **She's confirming my suspicions with these actions of hers,"** said Kurama.

"Well this game has gone on long enough, I'm ending this now!" Naruto ran up a tree to land on its branches before leaping from one tree to another while scoping out for the wandering girl, it didn't take him too long to find the girl as he saw her running below then he jumped down on the ground before her and turned around to look with a small smile "Looks like I caught you Alice-chan,"

Alice was surprised at how her playmate appeared before her so quickly "You're pretty good mister. Say…do you wanna hear Alice's story?"

"A story?" Naruto looked at her confusedly.

"Once upon a time there was a little girl named Alice, who lived in a country far, far away from here…"

Naruto blinked once…and he saw another Alice standing the first one but the color of her clothes were black.

" _What the…two Alices?! Where did the other one from?!"_ thought Naruto astounded at the sight.

" **And she appeared without a trace, just like the first…but there's something odd about her,"** said Kurama.

The unknown girl spoke up "And then, a scary country came with their tanks and planes and metal helmets and guns. The sky got really red and my house got really black. Then I woke up in a white room. Nothing ever changed. I had no friends. I had no mommy or daddy,"

" _These girls are orphans from a war?"_ thought Naruto.

Alice followed up "Daddy always said that when I got hurt I should tough it out and would get mad if I said it hurts. But something happened that hurt so much that I couldn't tough it out. Then I woke up here," then she smiled happily, but something was definitely wrong with it "But it's okay, it's really fun here. There are bunches of nice people,"

Black Alice nodded in agreement "Uh-huh, that's right Alice. You can play as hard as you want here right?"

"But if I play too hard, I break my playthings. I don't want their heads and arms to come off!"

"Don't be silly. If we break them, I can sew them up with the needle and thread mommy gave me. I'm not very good at sewing, but I can at the very least stitch them together," said Black Alice.

"What a relief, I wouldn't want to make mommy mad again," said Alice.

" _There's something very wrong with that new girl! The way she's acting is almost the same as Gaara before he changed!"_ thought Naruto.

" **Indeed, her warped view certainly equals to that of Shukaku's host,"** said Kurama in agreement.

"Then let's play really with the mister! Cuz he is our brand new friend," said Black Alice "Hey, let's see if 'he' wants to play too,"

Alice nodded excitedly in agreement "Yeah! That's a good idea," she raised her hand into the air, a dark shadow slowly rose from behind the girls and loomed over them before revealing it to be gargantuan humanoid monster of burgundy skin with pink markings, a single eye, and a pair of wings on its back.

"Play with him, mister," said Black Alice with an innocent smile.

" _How the hell I am supposed to play with this thing?!"_ As Naruto gazed at this creature, he could feel power practically flowing out it and the entire forest shakes under its influence. He took a step back in fear, every single part of his body is screaming at him to run away and stay away!

" **Kit, you better pull back so we can come up with a plan. We can't afford to make any mistakes!"** said Kurama, he could tell that his host wouldn't stand a chance if he face off against that monster then and there.

" _Couldn't agree with you more!"_ Naruto turned around and ran away from the beast as fast as he could but he could still feel the power from it all around him.

"Look, mister has run off," said Alice.

"He must be playing hide and seek, so our friend must go and find him," said Black Alice, she turned to the monster "Go and seek him," the monster let out guttural roar and strode in direction of its 'playmate'.

Elsewhere, Naruto was hiding behind a tree, panting before trying to catch his breath and calming down then called out to Kurama.

"Got any idea on how to take this thing out?" asked Naruto.

" **Obviously taking it head-on is suicidal, I suggest attacking from a distance with battlechips and shadow clones,"** Kurama responded.

"Good idea, that thing really scares me. Haven't felt this scared since I first met Zabuza," Naruto felt the ground shake and peeked out from behind the tree only to see the monster walking towards him "Damn! It's already here, well let's get to it!" he ran up the tree and equipped himself with the Aurum Blade as he reached the top. He leapt through the trees until he found a suitable position which is overhead and viewing the back of the beast. He began to charge the firearm up to its maximum power "Take this!" he pulled the trigger to fire a large plasma bullet which exploded upon impact, when the smoke cleared, it revealed not a single scratch or burn mark much to his shock "Grrrr…Shadow Clone jutsu!" he formed a large number of clones which lunged at the beast with their chakra blades out and began slashing with some others using the Aurum Blade for long range support.

None of these seem to even bother monster as it simply knocked them all away with a single backhand, dispelling the clones.

"How's this then? Multiple MiniBomb battle chips in, and download!" C-Naruto held many battlechips in between his fingers and proceeded to rapidly insert in them into the PET, the spherical bombs materialized in each of Naruto's hands every time he flings one towards the monster below him.

Suddenly in an unbelievable burst of speed, it appeared right before Naruto with a fist reared back to punch him…hard.

"Hang on boss! AntiDmg battle chip in, download!" C-Naruto quickly slotted a chip into the PET as Naruto's body glowed faintly before being punched only to disappear into a puff of smoke, leaving behind a plush toy of himself with the monster roaring in anger. Naruto ran through the forest, frantically trying to come up with a plan. So far none of them would work, the monster is fast, strong and very, very resilient. He slid down against a tree trunk to catch his breath.

"What do we do Kurama? Nothing seems to even bug that guy!" said Naruto.

" **I've never encountered a beast like it before, but I know that it has a weakness,"** said Kurama.

"But the big question is what? He didn't even flinch to show one…hmm?" Naruto felt his touch something and looked down to see something lying next to him, it was a dagger entirely pitch black in both the handle and blade but he could see silver engravings along the blade though he couldn't translate the language it was written in **(an Hestia Knife from Danmachi)** "What is this?"

" **I don't know but I feel strange energy emanating from it,"** said Kurama.

"Think it might help us with our invincible monster problem?"

" **As of now, anything helps,"**

Sure they heard the all familiar roar and saw the monster approaching them once more. However as it drew close to them, the black sword began to emit a crimson aura which seems to make the monster writhe in anguish as its frightening aura shrinks rapidly. Naruto looked confused at first before realizing what's going on.

"I don't know what this blade is, but it definitely has an effect on it," said Naruto.

" **In that case, you can damage it now!"**

Naruto charged forward while equipping the Aurum Blade and firing at his target, this time inflicting wounds on it. the monster swung at him but Naruto leapt into the air and formed three shadow clones in midair "Firehit battle chip in, download!" their fists ignited in flames as they dove at their target and proceeded to unleash a barrage of fiery punches with relentless vigor. Naruto created more of his clones and leapt high into the air altogether and descended with a somersault "Clone Spinning Axe Kick," they slammed their heels on the monster's head consecutively before flipping backwards to land in a four point stance "Clone Body Blow!" they lunged forward to slam into its torso with flying Headbutts which forced it to stumble back, completely unaware that the original dove in from above with the black dagger held over his head until it was too late as he plunged it into the monster's chest and heard its wail as it disappears.

"Phew…that takes care of it," said a relieved Naruto.

"Uh-oh! It's a Vorpal Blade! How did he get that?"

"Hehehehe, Really I wonder how,"

Naruto turned towards the voices with a frown on his face before speaking to them "What was that about Alice-chan? Were you trying to get me killed?"

Alice looked a bit frightened "But I thought we were playing a game mister,"

"Well it wasn't a nice game, if I had gotten hurt or worse. I wouldn't be able to play anymore games with you,"

Alice looked horrified at what he said "No! Alice doesn't want that, you're very nice and wanted to play with Alice. Please don't say that!"

Black Alice appeared nonchalant about all this "Maybe you were being a better player than the others, we'll have to come up with another fun game. Let's go Alice,"

"Okay Alice, bye-bye mister," Alice and the other girl both disappeared without a trace, leaving Naruto alone in the forest.

"What's the deal with that girl with the black dress?" asked Naruto.

" **I don't know, but be even more careful the next time you meet. Whatever games that they'll come up with which shall be even more dangerous,"** said Kurama.

"You're right, I better head back to rest a bit while my clone goes to recharge the battle chips," Naruto made his way back to the portal, unknown to him was that a black silhouette peeked out from behind a tree with eyes of demureness.

* * *

He exited the Sakura Labyrinth not before noticing the dagger disappear into many pixels then reappear in a black holster strapped to his left thigh with C-Naruto alerting him that it had installed in his system by itself and won't allow itself to be uninstalled. He felt memories of his shadow clone flow into his mind, apparently the clone was reading on a couple of books with interesting titles and decided to sort them out later. Naruto walked back to the school building with the intention to visit Sakura over at the infirmary, he was getting close to the building when he saw someone walk out and it was Nero.

"Ah hello Nero-chan," Naruto greeted.

"Why hello there Maelstrom-san, and pray tell why are you covered in dirt?" asked Nero upon seeing one of her contenders appearing so colly.

"I was doing some…battle training over at the first stage of the Sakura Labyrinth," said Naruto, no way is he going to tell her that he just survived a deathly game with innocent girls having a distorted view of the world around them.

A small smile graced the face of the female blonde as she nodded in affirmation "Fumu, it's admirable of you to tune up your strength for this tournament. I hope to cross blades with you to test this strength, it is to be artful,"

"I hope for the same from you, Nero-chan. Cause I'll be coming at you with everything I've got!" Naruto looked at her with fire in his eyes, something which Nero found to be quite enticing…from an expressionist perspective.

"Very well then but know that once on the battlefield, my blade with cut down all who stand before me. And I expect you to do the same thing, farewell," Nero walked past him with a glance at his face, still finding him interesting despite his uncouth behavior.

Naruto watched the girl leave with a quirked eyebrow "She's a weird one,"

" **You shouldn't talk, given that you're just as odd,"** said Kurama.

"Point taken," Naruto continued on his way into the school, climbed up the stairs and now was standing in front of the door leading into the infirmary. He knocked on the door a few times and heard a soft response before making his entrance "Hello Sakura-chan, I came by to visit you,"

Sakura turned to her visitor with a smile on her face "Oh hello Maelstrom-san, what happened to yourself?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his sheepishly "I did some training before I came here, my bad,"

The school nurse giggled a bit "It's quite alright, it's very nice of you to visit. Caster-san came by sometime ago and told me of her venture in the first stage before speaking about yours," she could remember how excited the fox girl was when she spoke of the blond.

"Yeah, that Ghost Data whom I fought was tough as nails…" said Naruto. The two spoke for quite a bit until Naruto saw that it was getting close to the time for the second stage to commence "I gotta go now, but I'll be sure to visit again soon,"

"Ok, I really enjoyed your company," Sakura smiled as she watched Naruto leave before frowning "As long as 'they' don't take things too far,"

Naruto ran back to the dormitory for a quick refresh and was leaving his room when he saw Lancer passing who smiled upon seeing him.

"Hey there kiddo, looks like you're all prepped up for the next stage eh?" said Lancer.

Naruto nodded in affirmation "Yeah, even did a little training in the first stage as a warm-up,"

"Good call, especially with these guys taking part in the tournament," said Lancer.

"Can you tell me more about them?"

"Trying to scope out the competition huh? I don't really know most of them… _especially_ the females," Lancer smirked at that, causing Naruto to look at him with a deadpanned expression upon figuring out what's going on in his head "But I do know about Gilgamesh, I hear that he goes by the moniker Golden King since he acts like one but is definitely no slouch in combat to the point of winning NetBattles without raising a finger. Now for Archer, not much is known about him but I heard that his previous NetOp was a very dangerous man in the real world, no one heard of them until he showed up here in the hands of another NetOp,"

"Hmmm, they sound very high level," said Naruto.

"Pretty much, so my word of advice is that you should be extra careful when you run into them," said Lancer.

"Okay, thanks for the info,"

"Anytime, just give me a good fight should we bump into each other,"

Lancer and Naruto had arrived at the entrance of the Sakura Labyrinth with the rest arriving soon afterwards. Caster perked up upon seeing Naruto and skipped over, Elizabeth took and wondered why she bothers herself with that male NetNavi and Nero felt slightly annoyed for some reason. The group didn't have to wait any longer as BB materialized before them.

"As we're all gathered here, the second stage of the tournament is about to commence. Please be aware of the growing difficulty as you advance to the final area," said BB.

Gilgamesh snorted "I rather prefer such odds, the outset was quite dull,"

"The rules are the same as the ones before, I wish you good luck," BB watched as the competitors passed by to enter the portal to begin the next stage. When Naruto was walking past her, she saw the Vorpal Blade and smiled as if familiar with the weapon before he disappeared into the entrance as well.

* * *

Arriving at the other side of the portal, Naruto found himself standing himself on top of a hill overlooking a vast hinterland of long grasses beneath a boundless night sky. Naruto scoped ahead to see a small forest in the distance and beyond that is what appears to be a castle situated on top of a mountain with a town below and a tall surrounding it along with a moat.

"Guess that's where I should be heading to," said Naruto.

" **It may seem so, we better get moving before the others arrive there as well to acquire the moon tablet pieces,"** said Kurama.

"Gotcha,"

Naruto ran down the hill in direction of the castle town which he'll have to get through the forest ahead of him first. He was on the move when from the corner of his eyes, he saw something sifting through the tall grass from his left side but pretended to not have noticed. That was when three shadows jumped out from the grass, he drew out the Chakra Blade to deflect the first strike then roll under the second attack before dashing away from the third and final strike then he turned to get a better look at his assailants. They appeared to be humanoid in shape with pieces of silver metal on their bodies similar to those knights which his clones read about, these new enemies drew out swords and charged at with the intention to attack.

Naruto ran towards and quickly slid in between one of their legs, then he drew out the Vorpal blade and threw it to stab one of them in the back, then raised the chakra blade to block an overhead strike while conjuring the Aurum blade to fire a plasma shot to disarm one of the knights rushing in to attack. Naruto turned his attention back to the knight he was engaging and kicked it in the torso for a knockback then he dashed in to execute an X-slash with the Chakra blade and the Aurum Blade, "Chakra Blade Boomerang!" he spun around to throw the Chakra Blade at the last knight to slice through its midriff and watched as it disappeared in particles of data while catching his weapon, he heard a swooshing and looked to see the Vorpal blade flying back into its sheathe.

"This blade is really attached to me," Naruto mused for a moment before resuming his run to the marked destination with no more ambushes until arriving at the woodlands. He cautiously traversed the dark forest while keeping both eyes and ears out for any enemies lying in wait to attack him from the darkness. His encounter with Zabuza and time in the Forest of Death during the Chuunin exams taught him that much. He suddenly heard a twig snap several meters, alerting him that there were enemies inbound and whispered out "I need some camouflage,"

"Got it boss, Invisible battle chip in, download," C-Naruto slotted a chip into PET, Naruto's body became completely transparent before jumping to the treetops silently and took a route around the source of the sound to approach it from behind. He saw a dark shadow moving quietly through the trees and followed after it. Upon closer viewing, he saw that the figure wore a black cloak with the hood up and it held a bow with an arrow nocked and ready. Naruto silently approached the figure from behind while drawing out the Vorpal blade and positioned it at the neck before whispering "You can never surprise a ninja so easily," then he slashed the neck off to take it down and noticed that it dropped something on the ground and recognized what it is "It's the first piece of the Moon Tablet!"

" **Wouldn't have expected an enemy possessing it since it was obviously not a ghost data,"** said Kurama.

"Well we got one, and now for the second one," said Naruto resumed the trek and after a while, arrived at the castle town. The problem was that the bridge was up, denying entry into the place, Naruto simply scoffed at that "For a normal person, this would stop them…but definitely not a Shinobi!" he formed a handsign to channel chakra to the soles of his feet before easily walking across the moat and then running up the wall and vaulting over to get inside.

* * *

Elsewhere at the grasslands, one could hear the sounds of explosions and craters are scattered everywhere. Someone was sent skidding backwards from a powerful and looked to glare at the opponent, revealing it to be Lancer who was wounded all over and the opponent was…

"I must admit that a plebeian like you could last this long against my treasures," the voice of arrogance belonged to none other than Gilgamesh who stood away with his arms crossed and a smile on his face.

Lancer grunted a bit as he got back to his feet and retook the his fighting stance with his red spear in hand "Don't sell me short, I'm having the time of my life fighting and I don't plan for it to end anytime soon,"

"Hmph, well I'm done wasting my time on you and need to be on my way to fight more worthy opponents. But being the generous person I am, I'll grace you with one of my most powerful attacks…boy if you would please,"

"Okay, Key of the King's Law Bab-ilu battle chip in, download!" Gil slotted in a golden chip into his PET, then a golden key-shaped key appeared in Gilgamesh's hand, he held it forward and twisted it then golden ripples appeared overhead where spears, swords and many more weapons appeared from them.

Lancer frowned at the sight, then he leapt about a hundred meters away from Gilgamesh and took a crouching position on all fours "In that case, I'm pulling out my trump card. Resign yourself, and receive my blow!" then he dashed forward about halfway before leaping high into the air, he reared the red spear back as it surged with red energy "Gáe Bolg!" he hurled it towards Gilgamesh with all of his might in the form of a crimson streak.

The Golden King continued to smile and with a twitch of his fingers, the weapons shot forwards at blurring speeds which resulted in a massive explosion which could be seen from distance with those that had noticed to wonder who the cause of it was?

* * *

 **This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto encounters the mysterious girl Alice who entices him to play a game with her, he agrees only to find himself playing a deathly game with her and a twin sister while barely surviving with the help of an unknown weapon which appears to have been given to him by an unknown person and BB recognizes it. Now the second stage of the tournament is underway and Naruto was lucky to acquire the first piece and is now in the next, and what would be the conclusion in the battle between Lancer and Gilgamesh. Who would be Naruto's opponent in the second stage?**

 **I'm also setting up a poll for which type of story you would want me to publish next? Be sure to check out later on my profile page.**

 **So read and review as always.**

 **This is Hussbek from Ghana**

 **Signing out.**


	9. A Knightly Duel with Shadows

**Maelstrom EXE.**

"Normal speech"

" **Tailed Beast speech"**

[Talking from the PET]

 **Chapter 7: A Knightly Duel with Shadows**

Naruto was currently jumping along the thatched roofs of the huts as he searches for the second half of the Moon Tablet to advance to the next stage, however he couldn't help but wonder about the explosion that he saw no sooner he crossed over the wall into the castle town.

" **It must have been one of the competitors, goes to show how powerful they are. So you better be ready should you encounter them,"** said Kurama.

"Roger that Kurama," thought Naruto, he heard the clanking of metal and looked down below to see a squad of cyber knights and smirked to himself. He silently landed on the ground and stealthily followed them from behind, Naruto was right behind one of them and grabbed his selected target right as they went round a corner and pulled it back before stabbing it in the back with the Vorpal blade as it dispersed into blue pixels. Next he took to the roofs and went ahead to hide behind a barrel for them to pass, once they did he tackled the one at the back into alleyway and took it down as well. However it appears like the remaining knights had noticed that their brethren were missing and split into different directions.

" **You need to go after them before they put the whole castle on alert, making it a bit harder to move around,"** said Kurama.

"I was thinking the same thing, Shadow Clone jutsu!" a small group of clones appeared before "Head them off before they can sound the alarm!"

"Okay boss!"

The clones took off while he ran after the cyber knight he saw last and was leaping through the rooftops once more, soon he caught up with his quarry by tracing the clanging sound of metal, he created a pair of cyber kunai and threw them to strike the legs, causing the knight to fall to the ground before he leapt off the roof and dove towards the fallen knight with the Chakra blade brandished and took it down. He waited for a few moments before feeling memories of his shadow clones flow into his mind.

"My clones were able to stop them as well, talk about lucky. Now I can get back to-" suddenly the sounds of bells echoed throughout the area much to Naruto's surprise and confusion "What? But I stopped the knights from sounding the alert, so what gives?"

" **My guess is that someone else was the cause of it, we're running against the clock now. Find the other half of the Moon tablet and get out of here before we get overrun,"**

Naruto heard something whistling through the air and dashed to the side before turning around to see another group of cyber knights with some wielding crossbows, they fired a few more bolts at him as he quickly deflected them with his Chakra blade.

"A bit late for that one, I need some fireworks!" said Naruto.

"Got it, Miniboom battle chip in, and download!" C-Naruto slotted a battle chip into the PET then a spherical bomb materialized in Naruto's free hand before he threw it at the knights' feet which then exploded, giving him the opportunity to make his escape. Naruto ran down the winding streets with the knights pursuing him, so he summoned the Aurum blade and several handful of shuriken to and fire and throw them respectively to slow them down till they lost sight of him, Naruto found a barrel nearby and quickly dove into it, waiting until the knights ran by before he could poke his head to see if the coast was clear.

"Heh, kinda takes me to back to when I would be chased by the Shinobi for my successful pranks," said Naruto with a look of nostalgia.

" **I was always amused to see trained ninjas unable to catch an academy student, making your title of being the most unpredictable to be well earned,"** said Kurama **"But now's not the time for flashbacks,"**

"I know, I know, I'm getting a move on," Naruto cautiously wandered through the streets whilst keeping both eyes and ears out for signs of enemies or competitors, he arrived at what appears to be a bazaar but the stalls were obviously closed but searched for clues only to find some cyber knights showing up and so quickly behind one of the stalls for a bit until they left "Man, these guys are everywhere, making the search troublesome as it is," he left the bazaar back through one of the narrow streets when he picked a sound…it was a feminine voice whimpering in fear which was more than enough for him to rush to the source of the sound, in a dark alleyway where he saw cyber knights with their backs to him.

Peeking through the gaps, Naruto could make out a black silhouette of someone crouched the corner of the alley, quivering in fear with the knights slowly approaching her much to his growing anger so he called them out to catch their attention as they turned towards him "I don't know what's going on here, but I do know that ganging up on a girl ain't gonna fly with me!"

The knights unsheathed their swords and charged towards Naruto who charged right back at them whilst summoning his Aurum blade, he weaved and parried the incoming strikes till he was at the other end of the alley with the mysterious girl looking at his back, the archers reloaded their crossbows and opened fire upon them.

"Barrier battle chip in, download!" C-Naruto slotted in a chip for a transparent dome of energy to engulf both Naruto and the girl to deflect the incoming projectiles "Here's a follow-up, Shockwave battle chip in, download!" a pickaxe materialized in Naruto's hand that he used to strike the ground, sending a wave towards the enemies which knocked them into the air. Naruto took aim with the Aurum blade and fired rapidly till they were all dispersed in blue pixels.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief as he put away the Aurum blade "That takes care of them, they won't bother you…anymore?" he turned to speak to the girl only to see her gone without a trace "Where did she go? There's only one way out of here,"

" **It's quite similar to those two Alice, but much stealthier,"** said Kurama.

"True that…hey what's that over there?" Naruto saw something sparkling on the floor and slowly approached it before his eyes widened in recognition "Hey, it's the second piece of the Moon Tablet! She must have left it behind for us,"

" **Good to see, I suggest we get out of here before using the Moon tablet to return to the academy,"**

"Okay, though I kinda wish that she stayed long enough for me to say thank you before leaving," Naruto put both pieces away and leapt to the rooftops and was soon making his way towards the castle gates. Back in the alley, there was a slight distortion before the black silhouette reappeared and looked in the direction the blonde had gone to.

"That's really nice of him, I hope miss BB won't be mad at me for wanting to help him. Maybe we can talk the next time we meet," the girl mumbled timidly to herself before fading away from sight.

Naruto was flipping and dashing multiple times to avoid the incoming barrage launched by the archers as he jumped along the roofs, apparently there was a tight security at the castle gates so Naruto resorted to using his shadow clones to serve as distractions while he made his escape. The young Shinobi was running up the castle walls with fired arrows narrowly missing him until he arrived at the top and flipped over it to dive into the forest. He leapt through the trees before stopping in the middle of a small clearing for a breather.

"Phew, that was a close one. Now to head back," Naruto took out the pieces of the Moon tablet and was about to put them together when there was a rustle from the bushes behind, he sharply turned around with a pair of cyber kunai in hand as the person walked into the clearing for him to see only to be surprised "Saber Lily, fancy meeting you here,"

Saber Lily smiled in return "Same could be said here, though I would venture to guess to you're the reason for the uproar in the castle town,"

"Well not at the beginning, but partway," Naruto became more serious "However I'm willing to guess that you have a piece of the Moon tablet?"

The white knight became just as serious "Indeed, and you have a piece as well, so we both know what this means,"

"Yeah… duel for the piece of the Moon tablet," Naruto slowly backing to one end of the clearing while Saber Lily walked to the other side then a holographic screen of Barrette appeared with the same going for C-Naruto at Naruto's side.

[I certainly hope you and your NetNavi would battle us with all of your might] said Bazett.

C-Naruto smirked in response "Right back at ya, we're gonna win no matter what-ttebayo!"

Saber Lily smiled in excitement as she crouched slightly and stretched a hand out for a white glow which faded to reveal a beautiful broadsword "Here I come, Maelstrom-san!"

"No holding back, Saber-san!" Naruto mirrored her stance while drawing out the Chakra blade, then both dashed towards each other and clashed in the middle to mark the beginning of the battle.

 **Music Start: Dissidia: Final Fantasy OST; Those Who Fight Further (FFVII)  
** Both combatants jumped away and faced down each other, waiting for either to make the first move…Naruto was the one to do so as he conjured a handful of cyber shuriken and flung them before dashing close behind them. Saber took a step forward and her sword swished around in a blur to knock them before parrying a horizontal slash from Naruto's Chakra blade and retaliated with her own. Naruto hastily backed away barely getting in the torso then summoned Aurum blade to unleash a salvo of plasma bullets at the same time flinging the Chakra blade like a boomerang. Saber Lily's body emitted a white aura and dashed forward with a loud sonic boom as the aura was actually deflecting the bullets and the Chakra blade much to Naruto's shock and quickly raised the Aurum blade to block, however he wasn't expecting the impact to be so powerful to the point that he was sent flying and crashed into a tree trunk.

"Guh! Feels like I got sent flying by Tsunade-baachan's finger flick again," Naruto groaned in pain, he quickly snapped out of it and took to the air just in time to avoid an incoming slash from Saber Lily which instead felled a tree in place. Naruto landed nearby with the Chakra blade returning to him and crossed the middle and index fingers each hand as he called out "Shadow Clone jutsu!" there was a puff of smoke which cleared away to reveal a small group of clones as they brandished any of the three bladed weapons and charged at Saber Lily. The white knight braced for their approached and began dodging or parrying their strikes from different before lashing out with attacks of her own. Most of the clones were able to keep up the pressure but were slowly losing their ground for Saber Lily's strikes were becoming more critical throughout the battle, Naruto rushed in with an overhead slash only to be blocked but switched to a low sweeping kick to which Saber Lily avoided by leaping into the air, one of the shadow clones grabbed Naruto by the arm and spun around to use the momentum to throw him towards her.

"Firehit battle chip in, download!" C-Naruto slotted a chip in for Naruto's free hand to ignite in flames before launching a straight punch, a white aura emitted from one of Saber Lily's gauntlets which she then used to block the fiery punch and countered with a one-handed slash but Naruto blocked it with his Chakra blade, then one of the clones jumped into the air next to him and kicked her in the torso to sending her flying away from the original as both landed back on the ground and squared off with smirks on their faces.

"Most impressive, you certainly are strong!" said Saber Lily with a smile.

Naruto smiled "Same to you too,"

[I must agree, but now it's our turn to strike. Stepsword battle chip in, download!] Bazett slotted a chip into her PET, Saber Lily's blade glowed white before disappearing from sight. Immediately after, every one of Naruto's shadow clones began disappearing rapidly then he himself felt something slice the side of his waist, inflicting great damage. Naruto looked around rapidly in search of his opponent but could only see bursts of dust around him.

"Man she's fast, kinda reminds me of Haku and Bushy Brows' crazy speed but I gotta find a way to catch her or stop her from moving around," said Naruto.

"Hang on, I got something for ya. AntiDmg and Bronze Fist battle chips in, double download!" with another pair of chips inserted, Naruto's body glowed faintly then got slashed only to disappear in a puff of smoke and reveal a miniature doll of himself. Saber stopped and looked around in confusion, suddenly the ground underneath her feet burst open for a fist to emerge and slam into her face with an uppercut which launched her into the air before crashing to the ground.

Saber Lily rolled back to her feet and retook her stance against her opponent, this blonde NetNavi is unlike any she has met before. He has no battle style whatsoever but rather reacts instinctively with unskilled swordsmanship and creates strategies while in the heat of the battle and his NetOp seems to provide him with the tools needed for such plans, almost as if they knew each other's thoughts and intentions like that of twins which makes them unpredictable. Same could be said for Bazett, at first glance she thought that the two were in over their heads, but now she can see the reason why they have been chosen to participate in the tournament…however it changes little to accomplish her goal.

[Recov80 battle chip in, download!] A white pillar of light came over Saber Lily, restoring most of her health before taking out another battle chip and slotted it in [Air Sword battle chip in, download!] wind swirled around Saber Lily's sword to the point that Naruto couldn't see it with the naked eye anymore, causing him to tighten his guard for the incoming attacks. Sure enough, Saber Lily charged at him and unleashed a combo of slashes upon him, Naruto sent away the Aurum blade and unsheathed the Vorpal blade in a reverse grip to parry the strikes then retaliated with his Chakra blade "Wing Air!" wind surged from the sword as she swung upwards to launch a powerful gust which sent Naruto flying high into the air before he could react.

Naruto righted himself in midair and put away his weapons to summon a shadow clone next to him as he stretched a hand out for the clone to weave his hands around the open palm then a blue spiraling sphere took form. The clone grabbed Naruto and spun around before flinging him straight at Saber Lily with the jutsu ready to strike her "Take this, Rasengan!"

[I don't think so! Avalon battle chip in, download!] Bazett quickly slotted a battle chip into her PET, Saber Lily stretched out a free hand for something to appear before her. It is a hollowed scabbard made of gold and blue enamel, Naruto was confused at first but lashed out with the intent to break through and strike his target but no sooner it struck did the scabbard knock him back with the Rasengan disappearing before breaking up into golden particles and was absorbed into the blade with a golden aura. Saber Lily dashed up to Naruto with the sword raised above her head "Caliburn!" and unleashed a powerful slash to send him crashing through the trees.

Naruto painfully got back to his feet, but could tell that he is seriously damaged from the counterattack "What the heck was that? It somehow absorbed my jutsu before I got hit hard,"

"From what I've observed, that technique serves as a powerful defense which then instantly becomes a counter," said Kurama, sending his chakra through Naruto's body to heal it.

"Well this calls for some payback, and I know just how to do it," thought Naruto with a smirk, he crouched slightly before running straight at Saber Lily all the while flinging shuriken and kunai along the way as he got closer. The white knight deflected the incoming projectiles with little issue, but can't help and wonder just what this young NetNavi is up to. Naruto was soon upon her and lashing out with his cyber kunai in both hands rapidly, Saber Lily channeled energy into her sword again to knock the kunai from his hands, leaving him open for an attack of which she initiated…however she noticed that the opponent's eyes as if he was…smiling, then she realized what's going on.

"It's a trap!" she thought panicky.

"Antisword battle chip in, download!" C-Naruto inserted the chip into the PET, the moment Saber's sword touch Naruto's shoulder, he moved in blurring speeds to unsheathe the Vorpal blade and slash across her chest to inflict critical damage. Both combatants jumped away and faced each other.

[That was quite a risky move, which you both pulled off] said Bazett being mildly impressed.

"You're pretty strong too, but we're gonna win no matter what-ttebayo!" said C-Naruto with a smirk.

[I too have a wish to be fulfilled, which is why we shall attack with everything we have!] The chip's effect on Saber Lily's sword finally wore off as she took a stance with it and her whole body surging with the white aura.

"It's appears she's going full force, suggest you do the same here," Kurama spoke up.

"Gotcha, good thing I've been reserving this," Naruto unsheathed the Chakra blade with the Konoha symbol glowing blue and tapped it for the chakra stored within to surge strongly before preparing for the next clash.

The combatants clashed once more and were rapidly attacking each other with ferocity, Naruto slashed several times before performing a backflip and creating a trio of shadow clones to rush in ahead of him as he swung the Chakra blade rapidly to launch a barrage of crescent energy waves towards Saber Lily, said knight was defending against the clones, she took out the first with a dashing horizontal slash and followed it up with a spinning slash to take out the remaining two which were coming in from different directions. Saber Lily turned to run towards the original in a zigzag pattern to evade some of the crescent waves while deflecting others and was upon Naruto to engage him in close combat once more. Naruto was getting pushed back from Saber Lily's techniques and lack of training in kenjutsu but his instincts were at least helping him keep up with his opponent. He ducked under a swipe from Saber's sword and unsheathed the Vorpal blade only for him to drop it to the ground much to Saber's confusion and wariness.

"What could he be up to?" she thought.

"Can't believe I'm using that bastard's trick, hope this works," Naruto lashed out with the chakra elongating to increase his attack range, forcing Saber to leap into the air with him in pursuit. They clashed blades multiple times then pushed away from the other when Naruto kicked to launch the Vorpal blade much to Saber's surprise and was barely able to avoid the projectile with it slice cutting a part of her waist.

[Saber Lily, are you alright?] Bazett called out to her worriedly.

"No need to fear Bazett-san, I'm still capable of fighting," Saber Lily replied then towards Naruto "An impressive strategy Maelstrom-san, none would have expected such an attack,"

Naruto nodded in response "Thanks, I borrowed it from a certain 'friend' of mine,"

"I see…what say we end this wonderful duel with our most powerful attacks?"

Naruto glanced at his Chakra blade in contemplation for a few moments before responding "You're on, let's see who comes out on top,"

Saber nodded in affirmation before taking a stance with the sword pointing skywards as she called out "Sword of Selection, grant me power! Cleave the wicked!" the blade began focusing energy to a single point.

Naruto gripped the Chakra blade with both hands and reared back "Gonna give all I got!"

"Caliburn!"

"Overslash!"

Both swung their blades forward to launch a large wave of golden or blue energy which clashed in the middle and struggled for dominance, Naruto and Saber Lily to fuel their respective attacks with their energies. The struggle continued until the opposing attacks ended in a massive explosion which covered about a mile radius. The smoke cleared a bit to reveal a large crater from the explosion's aftermath, a hand burst out from the ground and pulled itself out to reveal Naruto covered in dirt and bruises as he struggled to his feet then limped across the burnt field to the other side. There he saw Saber Lily in a similar condition with pieces of her armor broken apart and her sword was broken.

 **Music End**

The white knight smiled upon seeing the blonde NetNavi "It appears that this duel…ends in your victory,"

"How so?" asked Naruto.

"By using the true name of my sword to perform its most powerful attack, it will break…with its restoration requiring a lot of time…and you appear to be capable of continuing battle despite both us suffering similar injuries, not to mention that you also seem to be healing as well," Saber Lily replied, Naruto couldn't say anything in his defense for she was right about most things thanks to Kurama healing him with his chakra as he always did.

"You're right, but if not for my ability to heal…you would have beaten me, _if I didn't use Kurama's chakra_ ," said Naruto with his faceplate deactivating.

[Even so, a loss is a loss. Both of you are the winners here today] said Bazett with a tone of disappointment in her voice.

"But you gave it all you got," said C-Naruto.

"We appreciate the compliment, hopefully the next time we meet outside the tournament…things might change," said Saber Lily.

"Same here, only next time it will be much more intense," said Naruto with a foxy grin, causing Saber Lily to feel strange as she looked at him, for he emits the aura of a warrior of gallantry and yet a sunny disposition to attract others around him.

"Very well then, we hope to see you after the tournament…Maelstrom-dono," Saber Lily's was engulfed in a pillar of white light before disappearing along with it, leaving Naruto alone in the crater.

" **Her kenjutsu was quite formidable, wouldn't you agree kit?"** asked Kurama.

"Yeah, guess my experience against sword users back in Konoha helped out a bit. She's pretty strong and beautiful…wait did I just say that out loud?" Naruto blushed at what he said.

" **Hahahahaha! That you did, and here I thought you swung for the other team. Turns out that you're more of a late bloomer, it's only a matter of time before the Toad Hermit's perversion completely takes over!"** Kurama laughed out loud.

"Shut up, I'll never be a second Pervy Sage! Let's just head back to the academy," with a red tint on his cheeks, Naruto took out the two pieces of the Moon Tablet and clicked them together to activate the portal for him to step into and was transported to the entrance of the Sakura Labyrinth. He barely took a step when he heard two voices gasp from his left and turned to see Nero and Tamamo looking at him with shock.

The fox girl immediately ran over and started examining him all over while the red swordswoman walked to them "Maelstrom, what happened for you to end up like this?" asked Tamamo worriedly.

"I ended up fighting against Saber Lily in the forest area of the second stage," Naruto explained.

"Judging from your appearance, she was a formidable opponent," said Nero, getting a nod of affirmation from the blonde.

"Save the storytelling for later, we need to get you to the infirmary for Sakura-san to heal you!" Tamamo began jostling Naruto to the school with Nero following them looking amused and a bit worried about him as well. They eventually arrived at the infirmary, where Sakura was about to greet them but was taken aback upon seeing Naruto's condition. She quickly had him lay down on the cot activating the regenerator to heal him even though he had almost fully recovered along with his armor being fully repaired as well.

"Your health has been fully restored, Maelstrom-san," said Sakura, getting sighs of relief from Tamamo and a nod of approval from Nero "What sort of battle did you have to end up this way?"

"Maelstrom-kun was fighting against Saber Lily, and managed to win in the end!" said Tamamo happily.

"But it just goes to show how this tournament's difficulty rises, I also heard from that arrogant Gilgamesh that he had also defeated Lancer as well," said Nero.

Naruto sat up from the cot with his eyes wide in shock "Lancer lost?!"

"Yeah, now it's down to the six of us remaining," said Tamamo.

"I wish to warn you all that from the fourth stage onwards, Gate Guardians will begin to appear and you would have to defeat them in order to proceed," said Sakura worriedly.

"Gate Guardians?" asked Naruto confusedly.

"They're known to serve directly under BB and are one of the strongest in the tournament. Many that went up against any of them would be defeated, only a few others well fortunate to avoid them all entirely to reach the Moon Cell for their wishes to be granted,"

"They sound pretty scary," said the fox girl worriedly.

"Apparently there are opponents whom one must tread lightly with," said Nero looking thoughtful.

" _Think we would be able to handle them?"_ thought Naruto.

" **It only depends if we run into them to begin with, it would be interesting to see exactly powerful they are,"** Kurama responded.

" _Good point,"_ Naruto turned to the others "I guess we'll just have to wait and see then,"

"You may have recovered, but I advise that you rest in your room for the rest of the day," said Sakura rather sternly, reminding Naruto of when Shizune would stand in for Tsunade when healing him.

So Naruto nodded to her while smiling fondly "Yes ma'am," causing Sakura to smile as well but Tamamo and Nero glared at her a bit. Naruto got to his feet and was leaving when Tamamo offered to escort him but he politely refused, saying that he could manage on his own much to her hidden disappointment. Naruto had just gone down to the second floor when suddenly he was surrounded by two familiar people.

"We found you!" said both Alice from the front and back simultaneously.

"It's you two," Naruto gazed at both of them warily, with what happened last time he needs to be cautious and try to find a way their distorted mindset.

"Why were you sneaking around like that?" asked Black Alice.

"Hey, let's play! We've even made up a new game! That's right, this time there won't be some stupid grinning cat to help you out," said Alice happily "Promise that you'll come and play!" then she ran off down the hallway.

" _Another deadly game I'll bet,"_ thought Naruto.

Black Alice giggled at him "Remember, you promised," she followed after the other Alice afterwards.

Naruto let out a sigh of resignation "I might as well go after them,"

" **You do know that their 'games' could kill us if we're not careful?"** said Kurama.

"I know, but they're gonna keep pestering us with more until I put my foot down…once and for all,"

" **Good to know, they're probably waiting in the forest of stage one,"**

"I'll be heading there now, hope the others won't get mad about not resting," Naruto went down the stairs and out of the school till he arrived at the entrance of the Sakura Labyrinth. He willed the gate to transfer him to the first stage and passed to enter the forested area. He ran through the trees towards the small clearing where he had first met Alice and sure enough, they were there waiting for him.

Alice perked up upon seeing him "I knew that you would want to come and play with us!"

"You're the nicest, mister," said Black Alice.

"Sure, but I wish to talk to you after this is over," said Naruto.

"Okay, but first it's playtime! Alice will create a brand new playground in just a second!" Alice started to perform some sort of sequences of poses with Black Alice in perfect sync "Birds are just birds here…"

Black Alice followed next "People are just people here…"

"Welcome to Alice's tea party!" just Alice spoke, the entire atmosphere suddenly changed and a multicolored mist fell over the forest around them.

Naruto looked around in confusion "What the? What is this?!"

" **Careful kit, their technique seems to alter the reality around you!"** said Kurama in alert.

"At Alice's tea party, no one can remember their names. Not even Yamada or Suzuki. You won't be able to remember anybody's names. You'll see in a minute, mister," said Alice with a smile.

"Nuh-uh, it goes like this. First you forget your name and then you forget who you are and then…the end! And you won't have to waste time in that silly tournament," said Black Alice.

"Isn't it fun?!"

" _Not in the least bit,"_ thought Naruto angrily.

"All right, let's all play tag now. You're 'It', mister!" said Black Alice.

"Are you ready? Ready, set, go!" then both of the girls ran into the forest to start the game.

" **Time is against you, catch them before you lost your memories!"** said Kurama.

"Already on it!" Naruto took off after them, he weaved around the trees while keeping an eye out for the girls until he found them running along the path "There they are!" the two Alice saw him and continued to run all the while giggling at him, Naruto took to leaping along the tree branches and quickly caught up with them, he was just about to grab one of them when Black Alice suddenly turned around and fired an energy sphere which caught him off guard to knock him back "Nice try, but I'm not going to let you get away!" The blonde ninja got back to his feet and was in pursuit once more, they ran around the trees for a few moments until Naruto put on a burst of speed to leap right over their heads and landed in the Alice's path to stop them.

"Alright you two, the game's over," said Naruto.

Black Alice giggled "I got caught…?"

"Wow, you're really fast and can jump high, mister!" Alice looked at Naruto in awe.

"But he can't probably remember his name anymore,"

"You can't remember your name, can you mister?"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at the question "Of course I can remember my name, it's…my name is…what is my name?" he tried to remember but was coming up with blank results and can't even remember their names either.

" **-! Stay focused, don't let them get the best of you or it's over!"** said Kurama.

"Oh okay um…fox-san?"

" **Dammit it's getting worse,"**

"You gotta catch us, or your body will go bye-bye next!" said Alice, then Black Alice then waved her hand which caused them to disappear elsewhere.

Naruto went after them again, Black Alice launched more energy spheres at him but he would use the Vorpal blade to deflect the incoming projectiles as he drew closer to them, Naruto created several shadow clones to corner them to a large redwood tree so they wouldn't run anywhere.

"I got you now!" said Naruto.

Alice looked intimidated "Mister, why are you being so scary? Are you mad at me…?"

Black Alice was giggling "Why are you mad? Uh-oh, is it cuz your body is going bye-bye?" Naruto raised his hands in front of him and was stunned to see them being transparent which meant that his entire body is in the same condition.

"Stop this, it isn't fun at all!" shouted Naruto.

"I'm scared, why is he so mad?" Alice looked fearful at Naruto's anger.

"I dunno Alice, we're only playing," Black Alice again teleported them away and were on the run again from Naruto for the second time.

" **You don't have much time left -! Hurry up and catch them! I'll even channel my chakra to make it quick!"** said Kurama.

"Ok fox-san!" Naruto felt a sudden surge of energy flow through his energy, he crouched low then shot off like a bullet and instantly caught up with the young duo "Enough is enough!"

Alice looked at Naruto with tears brimming in her eyes "Why are you so mad *Sniffle* I just wanted to play…,"

"That's because you're hurting me with this game of yours!" said Naruto.

"Then perhaps we've overestimated how good you are at playing our games," Black Alice scoffed at the blonde

"I'm…hurting you?" asked Alice confusedly.

Naruto nodded in affirmation "As the time went, I wasn't just forgetting my name but I began to forget other things which were really important to me. My heart began to hurt badly, it is crying out to me…telling me that I'm missing a part of myself that truly makes me who I am. I felt something all too familiar and I'm sure you know it…the feeling of loneliness,"

Alice gazed into Naruto's eyes and let out a gasp upon seeing the light in them which she personally liked slowing dimming _"He's just like me in a way,"_

"But do you what the worst thing is? I also forgot the name of the person whom I promised to play with…and it hurts just as much, because it makes me feel like I failed to keep my promise to them," Naruto looked down at the ground sadly. Tears flowed out down Alice's cheeks, she didn't want this, she just wanted to have fun with her new friend and yet she is hurting him with her games. She was about to speak up but Black Alice beat her to it.

"But the game still goes on and it doesn't end until you beat it, so can you remember your name yet? Even though you're almost out of time," like Black Alice said, Naruto is just about to fade away entirely…when suddenly unbeknownst to them, a white orb of light emerged from Naruto's back and touched the back of his head.

Naruto suddenly felt a certain memory flow into his mind where he saw himself hiding behind a tree with a large scroll in his hands and nearby were two men with one lying down wounded and the other poised to kill him, Naruto wasn't able to hear them speak then he heard the wounded man speak with great clarity.

' _That is how beasts are…but that is not who Na- is, -ru-o is one of a kind, works hard and puts his whole heart into it. Sure he messes up sometimes and everyone jumps on him, but his suffering only makes him stronger. That what separates him from being a beast, so you're wrong, he's nothing like the nine tailed fox. He is Na-to Uz-ma-i of the Village Hidden in the Leaves!'_ the wounded man declared before the memory faded away.

Naruto slowly reached to his forehead and untied the headband to look at the symbol into the metal plate "I remember…he was truly the first to acknowledge me for who I really am. My name is…Naruto Uzumaki!" with his declaration, the atmosphere shattered like glass with the forest returning to normal and he could remember everything now.

" **That was a close one, kit,"** said Kurama.

" _Sorry about that, Kurama,"_ thought Naruto apologetically as he retied the headband back on, getting a grunt in return.

Black Alice took a step back in shock of what just happened with Alice feeling the same along with the sense of relief "You were able to dispel the nameless forest…"

Naruto slowly approached them "Alice-chan, I can understand why you do this to avoid the hurt that you felt in the past. But you must understand that not everything is a game and that one must face reality to see a lot of things,"

Black Alice stood in the way with a frown on her face "Alice doesn't need to stop playing games, she's managing just fine and I'm her one and only friend,"

"That won't change the fact that she still feels loneliness, you can't do it alone. Let others in to broaden her horizons in reality,"

"No! They hurt Alice and I won't let them do it again, I'm going to make you go away…forever," Black Alice took a fighting stance.

Naruto frowned at this before taking a stance of his own "Then I have no other choice than to make you see that what you're doing is a mistake…cause I want to help Alice-chan!"

Black Alice started off by rapidly firing a barrage of energy spheres at him, Naruto darted from left to right whilst using the Chakra Blade to deflect those he couldn't evade in time till he was upon her and lashed out a punch, Black Alice parried it with a backhand and launched a punch of her own for Naruto to catch it with an open palm but was surprised at her level of strength when he got knocked back a few feet before skidding to a stop.

"Whoa, she's strong despite how she looks," said Naruto "Even so, I don't plan on losing here. Shadow clone jutsu!" he summoned a small group of clones to rush at their target.

Black Alice started going through a series of poses "The Plains of Winter!" she thrust her hands out to unleash a large gust of cold air which slammed into the clones encased them in a frozen cocoons, she rushed forward to punch each of them with her fists to shatter into pieces. Then she into the air towards Naruto, ready to engage him in close combat. Naruto parried a punch from her and lashed out with kick only for Black Alice to catch his leg and swung him around to fling him towards a tree. Naruto quickly summoned a shadow clone to grab him by the arm and pull him with back with her along before flinging at one of the trees like Black Alice intended. Naruto landed on the tree trunk with his feet then slammed Black Alice to it then both landed back on the ground.

"Frenzied March Hare!" Black Alice thrust her arms forward to launch a powerful blast of wind at Naruto who looked ready for his next move.

"Areasteal and Airshot battle chips in, double download!" C-Naruto slotted two chips into the PET, Naruto disappeared before the wind made impact and reappeared before Black Alice with his right hand morphed into an arm cannon then he fired a sphere made out of air to slam into her torso to send her flying "Cyber shuriken!" Naruto conjured a handful of said throwing weapons and launched them at his opponent.

Black Alice quickly recovered and raised an energy shield to block the incoming projectiles before retaliating in kind. Naruto created a shadow clone and both dashed together while he summoned the Aurum Blade in gun mode to rapidly fire at the incoming fire while his clone working on forming a Rasengan with him. Black Alice's eyes widened in shock and hastily strengthen her energy shield before Naruto lunged with his jutsu with the spiraling sphere grinding against the barrier. Either side struggle with offense and defense while hoping to outlast the other. Suddenly cracks began to appear on Black Alice's shield much to her shock, she tried to reinforce the defense but it was futile as it was shattered and the blue spinning sphere was heading towards her…however the sphere dissipated at the last minute and an open palm slammed into her gut with sufficient force to send her tumbling backwards and this time wasn't getting back up.

Naruto let out a deep breath and made to approach Black Alice when he heard rapid footsteps run past for him to see Alice reach black Alice to see if she was okay before looking at Naruto with worry.

"Please stop, don't hurt Alice anymore! I don't want her to go away! I don't want to be lonely again!" Alice cried out.

The blonde stared at them and continued with his approach, Alice hugged the other tightly and closed her eyes in anticipation for the forthcoming agony…only to feel a hand on her head, she looked up to see Naruto smiling at her softly.

"I wasn't intending on doing such a thing, I know full well how much you care for each other. It was just how you went about things that I wasn't okay with it and wanted to correct you, as well as prove something to Black Alice," said Naruto.

Said person slowly rose her head to look up at him "What do you mean?"

"That I possess the strength to protect Alice alongside you, so you won't need to bear it alone. And if you let others in to be your friends, the world around you would be much bigger than you thought,"

Alice looked at the ground, feeling unsure of herself "But what if I start hurting again? I don't know if I can tough it out like daddy used to tell me,"

"Well that's why Alice is here for you, to help tough it out so you could be happy. I myself had been lonely ever since I was a baby and struggled for attention, until one truly acknowledged me after I worked hard for it. As time went, more joined in my circle of friends and I couldn't have been happier. But something bad happened and I ended up getting separated from them forever, and the loneliness was returning…but then I found new friends here too but promised myself to never forget the ones before them. Which is why I also want to be your friend and you mine as well, if you both want me too," Naruto held out his hands to each Alice.

"Will you…will you be with us forever?" asked Alice.

Naruto replied with a foxy grin "Of course I will, and I won't let anyone or anything hurt you, that's a promise of a lifetime!"

Alice looked from Naruto's hands to his eyes and for some strange reason felt that he really meant to keep that promise for her to be safe, despite what she and Black Alice did to him…he still wants to help them. Alice slowly stretched out her hand and from the corner of her eye saw Black Alice doing the same until both gripped a hand with Naruto beaming happily at them.

"Thank you for being our friend…Naruto-niichan," said Alice.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow both at her calling out his name and a brother until he recalled his proclamation and certainly didn't mind being called that either.

"I'm going to rest for a while, please watch over Alice for me, her happiness is also my happiness" as she spoke, Black Alice's body glowed brightly before fading away to reveal a picture book with the title 'Alice in Wonderland' lying on the floor much to Naruto's confusion.

"What happened to her?" asked Naruto.

"It's Alice's real form, but she changed herself to be with me all the time. This is the first time, 'Alice' changed back," said Alice before scooping up the book into her hands.

"I see, well let's head back to my place so we could rest," Naruto held a hand to Alice which she happily took as they walked back towards the exiting portal which Naruto created for them to return to the Academy for some rest.

" _Mommy was right…this is how it would feel to have a big brother,"_ thought Alice.

* * *

 **This Hussbek online with the latest, Naruto ventured into the castle town of the next stage in search of the second piece of the moon tablet. Something set the town into an uproar and in the midst of the confusion he rescues a cloaked girl from a group of cyber knights only for her to disappear while leaving behind the piece he was looking for. Before leaving, Naruto encountered Saber Lily and her operator Bazett which led to a fierce battle with him coming out on top but not without being seriously damaged enough to be sent to Sakura's infirmary upon jostling from Tamamo and oddly enough Nero.**

 **Afterwards Naruto gets dragged into another one of the Alices' games which almost wiped out his very existence had it not been for an unknown intervention from a mysterious white orb secretly originating from within him, Naruto tried to sway them from their warped perspective of the world with a fight from Black Alice until he finally got through to them. With two stages traversed and two competitors out of the running, what's next in store for Naruto?**

 **So read and review as always.**

 **This is Hussbek from Ghana**

 **Signing out.**


	10. Double the Data Trouble

**Maelstrom EXE.**

"Normal speech"

" **Tailed Beast speech"**

[Talking from the PET]

 **Chapter 8: Double the Data Trouble**

With a soft groan, Naruto opened his eyes to find himself laying on the bed in his room. He was about to sit up when he felt certain weight on his left side, he pulled the cloth to reveal Alice with her arms wrapped tightly around his arm as if afraid to let him go to which he smiled softly upon recalling everything that happened yesterday and how he was able to change her mindset despite almost getting erased from existence.

" **If those two are capable of altering reality around them, makes me wonder who else is able to do the same,"** said Kurama.

" _Who knows but we would need to be ready when that time comes,"_ thought Naruto, he gently prodded the sleeping Alice so as to wake her up "Wake up Alice-chan, it's morning now,"

Alice slowly sat up and let out a cute yawn before looking around and smiled happily upon seeing the blonde "Good morning, Naruto,"

"Good morning to you too, how are you feeling right now and is Alice okay?" asked Naruto.

"I'm okay…" Alice reached under the pillow to bring out the picture book "…and I'm sure that Alice is okay too. I'll wake her up now," she closed her eyes in concentration as the book began to glow before levitating away from them before letting out a bright flash of light before fading to reveal Black Alice standing before them.

"Are you okay 'Alice'?" asked Naruto with concern for her after the battle they had.

"I am fully recovered, so there's no need for you to worry," 'Alice' responded, though a small smile graced her lips from how the boy was worried about her, something rather new and yet refreshing for her.

"That's good to hear, though we need to work on giving you a name of your own. Calling you both Alice is definitely going to confuse me and anyone else," said Naruto thoughtfully.

"A name for 'Alice', then what will you call her then?" asked Alice curiously.

"Hmmmmm, let me think of one…" Naruto was deep in thought about what name he could call Black Alice when he recalled one when he was browsing through a bookstore back in Konoha in search of the latest comic issue "How about Shiori? It means 'Poem' where I came from?"

"Shiori, that's a nice name! Don't you think so?" asked Alice happily.

"I like it, it's really nice," the now named Shiori smiled more brightly now.

"I'm glad you like it," said Naruto with a smile of his own. That's when he felt the link to the PET come online and the clone called out to him.

[There's another message concerning the tourney boss!] said C-Naruto.

"Got it!" Naruto activated the holoscreen with the message icon on it and opened to read the contents carefully before closing it up "Looks like we're going to begin the tourney later in the afternoon,"

"Can we play together before then?" asked Alice hopefully.

"Sure, maybe a game of hide and seek around the school," said Naruto with a smile, much to the girls' happiness.

Later on, Naruto and the girls made their way out of the dormitory and began their game of hide and seek with Naruto being the seeker. The game was rather fun and quite challenging for Naruto as he searches for Alice and Shiori, making him feel as if he was playing against himself as the game went on and couldn't help but feel for those who used to chase him during his pranking days back at Konoha. Naruto was quietly moving around with his senses sharpened to keep an eye out for any sort of irregularities when he detected a slight distortion hidden behind a tree nearby and smirked while thinking that they had exposed their hiding place. He took off at high-speed to appear on the branch of a tree close to the other one and stealthily positioned himself on a branch right above the distortion.

Grinning mischievously, Naruto jumped off to pounce to grab the unsuspecting Alice "Gotcha, Alice-chan!"

"Kyaaah, please don't hurt me!" a female screamed out in fear, causing Naruto to let go and stand back in surprise as the voice sounded rather familiar, he watched as the distortion faded away to reveal someone before him.

She is a girl with long flowing purple hair reaching to her back and a pink ribbon on the side of her head, she was an attire consisting of a neck belt, two strips of belt covering her large breasts, and three more over her torso. She also wears what appears to be a striped bloomer with brown panty hose and a pair of high heel shoes. What caught Naruto Naruto's attention the most was that her face looks similar to that of BB and Sakura, and the arms resembling that of giant talons which reminds him of Chouji when he uses the Partial Expansion jutsu on his arms.

"Another who looks like BB and Sakura, just what's up with that?" thought Naruto though he could barely look away from the size of her breasts, then he snapped back to attention when he saw the girl quivering in fear and went to help her "I'm really sorry about that, I didn't mean to scare you. I thought you were someone else I was playing a game with,"

The girl stopped shaking and looked back at Naruto who was looking back at her with concern "…you mean you won't hurt me?"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at that "Of course not, why would I?"

The girl sat up with her arms laying side by side "It's just that every time I meet someone, they always end up hurting me when I didn't do anything bad,"

"You mean you've been bullied for no good reason? Point me towards those guys and I'll teach them a lesson!" said Naruto angrily, if there's anything he absolutely hates then it's rapists and bullies regardless of rank, he will smash their heads to the ground.

"It's okay, they don't bother me anymore afterwards," said the girl in an attempt to calm him down.

"But it doesn't make it any better, anyways my name is Maelstrom exe," said Naruto, making sure not to slip up like last time.

"It's nice to meet you, my name is Passionlip," said the girl with a shy smile.

"Well same here, so what brings you out here?"

"Well I was walking when I saw you and wanted introduce myself to your but I felt hesitant and ended up hiding,"

"Well that's kinda weird but I gotta admit that you're pretty good at hiding, like you're a ninja,"

Passionlip smiled bashfully "Thank you, that's very nice of you to say,"

Naruto simply gave a fox grin in response "So what's your job, it's pretty obvious you aren't part of tourney since you're not in the roster. I would have to watch out for those arms of yours if you were,"

"Maybe but I don't really like fighting that much, plus these hands make things a bit difficult to handle without breaking them by mistake," Passionlip looked at her hands sadly.

"Sounds like a total bummer, but with enough practice I'm sure you can do it," said Naruto assuredly to which the girl smiled at.

"Hey Maelstrom, don't forget that the game is still going on," said C-Naruto.

"Oh right, I forgot!" Naruto shot to his feet and looked apologetically towards Passionlip "Sorry but I need to go look for someone,"

Passionlip felt sad inwardly at the blonde leaving, seeing how he was nice to her unlike the others behind him due to her "I understand, but I hope to see you again,"

"Maybe after this next round, I'm sure you hang around here. See ya Passionlip-chan," Naruto waved her goodbye before running off to search for Alice and Shiori.

"Goodbye…," Passionlip spoke softly, it was just like she had thought. He truly was different than all the others that she and the others had met before. His eyes withheld pain and loneliness but yet there was the sparkle of life which has a stronger presence over the negativity. Everything from his actions to his personality describe him to be someone that appears inattentive but can suddenly become unpredictable to both friends and foes from what they've observed of him from the start of the Grail War, and there's also that red energy which seems to trigger but will or when in a difficult situation for it is unseen in any other Netnavi "…I can only hope that you don't fight me or the others, I don't want you to go away forever,"

Back with Naruto, he was eventually able to find Alice but not Shiori who pretty much lorded her victory over the cyber ninja much to his displeasure. He had the girls return to the dorm room to wait for him to get back while promising to play another game with them later on. He was making his way towards the entrance of the Sakura labyrinth when he saw the nun whom he had bumped into on his first day, the woman smiled upon seeing him approach her.

"Hello Nun-san, it's been a while," said Naruto with a smile.

"Indeed it has Maelstrom-kun, I've been hearing of your progress through the tournament and I must say that I'm impressed,"'

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly," Gee thanks, I just try my best is all,"

"Quite true I must say, though I must warn you that things will become more difficult as you progress. I advise that you exercise great caution especially around the game masters," said the nun seriously.

"What do you mean, you're talking about BB right?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Yes, she among a few others had been observing you before sending the invite to bring you here for reasons unknown, perhaps there is something unique about you which they want," said the nun seriously, causing Naruto to flinch inwardly at what she could be implying. Might BB and these game masters be after his chakra and maybe Kurama which was why they invited him?

"I…I'll be sure to keep an eye out for anything weird around me, miss um…,"

"Please just call me Kiara Sessyoin," said the nun with a smile.

"Okay, then I need to get going," Naruto walked away with the nun seeing him leave with a smile on her face _"What do you think about all this Kurama?"_

" **She wasn't lying about BB having an interest in us but I suspect that she isn't telling us everything,"** said Kurama.

" _What do you mean?"_ asked Naruto.

" **It's like I said before, there's more going on in this tournament than we were allowed to know. We need to be vigilant for anything which might happen,"**

" _Roger that,"_ Naruto nodded in affirmation, he eventually arrived at the Sakura tree where the remainder of the contestants were already gathering, Tamamo saw him arriving and happily skipped over to him.

"Hiya Maelstrom, are ready for today?" asked the fox girl cheerfully.

Naruto smirked back "You better believe it, ready for anything!" causing her to giggle.

"I certainly hope you are, Maelstrom-san. I expect you to be at peak condition," said Nero, Tamamo frowned a bit at her appearance.

"Why do you two need to be concerned about a monkey like him, he has nothing to show unlike a superstar like me," said Elizabeth cheekily.

"At least he doesn't go insulting everyone like you!" said Tamamo angrily.

"Hmph, he's bound to lose anyway," the gothic girl scoffed at him.

Moments later, there was a bright flash of light and BB was standing before the group once more, she took a glance at Naruto and smiled at him, making the blonde feel rather awkward but remained attentive to what she was about to say.

"I welcome you all to the third stage of the Moon Cell Tournament and wish to congratulate you for advancing this far," said BB.

"It is to be expected of a king such as myself to reach this level with ease, mongrels could barely keep up with me as it is," said Gilgamesh arrogantly, making everyone frown at him.

" _This guy is really getting on my nerves here,"_ thought Naruto angrily.

" **He'll get what's coming to him soon enough,"** Kurama growled in anger.

"In this stage, there will be an addition of rules and the remaining competitors will be placed in pairs in a tag-team battle. The rules still apply to the combatants when acquiring the moon tablet pieces," said BB much to the surprise of everyone listening.

[Wait a minute, so you're saying that our Netnavi will be partnered up with another in this stage? So if both were able to get the complete tablet then they can advance right?] asked Kuro with a small frown.

[I guess that seem to be the case, Kuro-san] said Gil politely.

BB nodded in affirmation of the statement "that is correct, now I will randomly shuffle the Netnavi to be paired for the challenge," she thrust out a hand to project holographic portraits of Naruto and the others then waved to make the portraits mix up several times before spreading out to display the matchups for all to see.

 **Maelstrom exe and Tamamo  
Nero and Elizabeth  
EMIYA and Gilgamesh**

"Looks like we're partnering up, Tamamo-chan," said Naruto with a foxy grin.

Said fox girl was giddy with joy as her tail wagged at blurring speeds "Indeed we are! _It's like fate is bringing us together in matrimony, I'll prove to be the best waifu ever!"_

Nero frowned upon seeing that the blonde Netnavi ninja wasn't going to be her partner and was further annoyed that he was partnered with that fox girl instead. Reluctantly, she turned towards her assigned partner.

"As much as I dislike this scenario, we may have to work together in this upcoming task," said Nero.

"Hmph, I guess I'll have to allow you to be my co-star…for now," said Elizabeth with a pout.

[I hope we can work well together] said Gil.

[Okay, but not sure I can say the same for our Netnavis though] said Kuro. Gilgamesh and Archer were currently staring at each other intently with neither side making a sound for a while until the former spoke up.

"You better not get in my way mongrel, for it will be your last," said Gilgamesh.

"Hmph, right back at you," said Archer.

The entrance to the Sakura Labyrinth became active, the BB spoke up to regain their attention once more "The third stage is set, I wish you all good luck,"

"Got it, let's go Tamamo-chan!" Naruto dove into the entrance with the fox girl soon following afterwards.

"Right behind you Maelstrom-kun!" said Tamamo excitedly.

The duo emerged from the portal to find themselves standing in what appears to be coastal area where they are standing on the shores of the mainland with waves crashing onto the sand but ahead of them are three small islands ahead of them over the vast ocean, all in all a very beautiful place to behold.

"Well looks like we're here, now to find where the moon tablet pieces are before the others do," Naruto took a glance at Tamamo and noticed that she was pouting a bit "What's the matter?"

"If I knew that we would be somewhere close to the beach, I would have brought along my swimsuit," said Tamamo, puffing out her cheeks in a cute manner. Naruto unintentionally imagined the fox girl wear a two-piece swimsuit and blushed at the sight of it but shook his head to get it out of his mind.

"Let's stay focused Tamamo-chan, we need to find the pieces first before anything else," said Naruto.

"Okay," Tamamo grumbled a little before following after Naruto when he picked a random direction and walked off to search for some useful clues.

The duo continued on their trek along the sandy berm until reaching a rocky area with a tall cliff wall facing the ocean, they were drawing close to the sea cliff when suddenly something burst out from the sea and landed before them. It revealed to be a green-scaled fishman donning armor made out of hardened coral, the armored creature growled at them as it brandished its spear with the tip resembling that of a marlin's long beak, then more of the fishmen with colors varying from red, green and blue jumped out from the sea as well and stood with the first while armed with cutlasses.

"These guys look like they mean business, are you ready Tamamo-chan?" asked Naruto while unsheathing the Chakra blade and the Vorpal blade before taking a battle stance.

Tamamo giggled a bit before stretching a hand forward to summon a medium sized ornamental mirror which proceeded to levitate around her "Ready when you are!"

Both nodded at each other then charged towards the enemy who charged right back at them. Naruto rapidly attacked and defended against the first of the fishmen before dashing sideways to evade an incoming thrust of its spear and retaliating by throwing the Vorpal blade with it barely grazing the armor as the fishman moved to the side. The opponent flung the spear at Naruto only for him to dodge it but was caught off guard when it opened its mouth to fire a powerful stream of water, Naruto raised the chakra blade to block the attack but was slowly being pushed back from the pressure.

"Hang on boss, I'm sending a chip over to you!" C-Naruto reached into the holster to grab a battlechip "Here we go! Elec Sword, battlechip in and download!" then he inserted the chip into the slot of the PET. Naruto's left hand transformed into a blue energy blade with arcs of electricity coursing through it, he dipped the sword into the water which caused the fishman to be electrocuted and disperse into pixels, the blonde cyber ninja turned towards the other fishmen charging towards him and charged right back. He ducked and dashed to dodge the slashes then used the elec sword to zap them should they make contact, so the fishmen attempted a ranged attack tactic to fire jets of water at the ninja "Invisible, battle chip in and download!" another battle chip was inserted and Naruto immediately disappeared from sight, the enemy looked around for any sign of the ninja but suddenly some of the fishmen screeched out in pain with multiple slashes appearing all over their bodies with some of them disappearing into pixels due to high amounts of damage inflicted. Naruto reappeared with the Aurum blade and Vorpal sword in hand and aimed the former to fire when suddenly the weapon began to glow much to his confusion then it faded to reveal a pair of red knuckle dusters with long claws similar to that of tigers, then information about them flowed into his mind.

"I see, this is a new form of the Aurum blade…the Tiger Claws. Time for a little test run!" Naruto dashed towards the remaining fishmen and slashed rapidly with the claws, one of the fishmen attacked him from the side with its cutlass but Naruto flipped over to evade before landing behind and striking with a cross slash to take it down. He took aim at the others and fired energy bullet rapidly, despite the shots being weaker than in blade form it was enough to finish them off "I'm digging the claws, let's me really get up close and personal,"

" **It's mediocre in the least, I'll need to help you train in them more,"** said Kurama.

" _Sure, though I wonder how Tamamo is doing?"_ thought Naruto before turning to where the fox girl is.

Tamamo was currently engaging her group of fishmen in close quarters, she was darting in and out of their attacks as if she was dancing from an outsider's point of view. The fox girl found an opportune moment and controlled her mirror to swoop in an arc to knock them away from her before she rushed up to one of the fishmen and proceeded to unleash a combo attack of punches and kicks before willing the mirror again to smash its head to the group. Tamamo reached into her sleeves and took out spell tag with an inscription drawn on it "Curse: Spirit Theft!" she threw the tag to hit the fishmen before a blue aura floated away from them and was absorbed by her "Now I'm energized!" she dashed towards and rapidly alternated between them as she continued her assault before somersaulting into the air and bringing out two more spell tags "Curse: Fiery Heaven!" then threw them to unleash a large vortex of flames, burning the remaining fishmen away. She turned away to see Naruto walking towards her, apparently done with his own battle.

"Those are some pretty slick moves Tamamo-chan, no wonder you were able to get this far in the tournament," said Naruto admirably.

Tamamo looked away to cup her cheeks with her hands as she blushed "Awww, you're just saying that…hm?" she noticed something laying on the rocky floor and went over to pick it up, revealing to be a scroll "What's a scroll doing here?"

Naruto walked over to take a closer look at it "I'm guessing that one of the fishmen must have dropped it after being defeated by us, let's see what's inside,"

Tamamo nodded in affirmation then unraveled the scroll to reveal what's inside, it appears to be some sort of map illustrating the three islands which has a shrine built on each on each of them though the appears to another built in the middle of the sea and surrounded by the islands. Naruto and Tamamo were carefully examining the map and trying to figure out what it means.

"From the looks of it, the shrines on the islands seem to be good places to check out for the moon tablet pieces," said Naruto.

"Me too, but I don't really understand about the fourth shrine in the middle of the sea…" Tamamo looks out to the sea with confusion at the absence of the supposed shrine "…when it's not even there,"

"Maybe it sank to the bottom of the ocean, can't really tell with how this place was set up for us but for now we should make our way to one of the islands…starting with the one on the left," Naruto pointed at said island ahead of them.

"But how would we get there, it will take too long to even swim there?" asked Tamamo.

"Actually I have a way of getting us there…but it will have to require me carrying you there," Naruto blushed at the end of his sentence.

"Eh?!" Tamamo herself blushed at what he was saying.

"I-I'm not going to try anything perverted, just going to carry you to the island is all!" said Naruto, trying to clear up any misconceptions and avoid getting hit in the head…he has enough of those from Sakura and Tsunade already!

" **For someone who created the sexy jutsu, you sure can be innocent at heart,"** said Kurama with a smirk.

" _That was meant for pranks, there's no way I'm ever going to be a pervert like Pervy Sage!"_ thought Naruto defiantly.

The fox girl couldn't help but giggle a little at how the ninja was acting, she kinda finds it cute in a way "Okay Maelstrom-kun, you can carry me to the island,"

"Alright then, hop on,"

Naruto went down on one knee with his back to Tamamo who was excited inwardly climbed on to be carried piggyback, she snuggled into his warm back and couldn't help but notice that the scent emanating from him is like that of a fox just like her…maybe he has an affiliation to them given the whisker-like marks on his cheeks, she giggled a bit from being tickled by the spiky hair.

"Are you hanging on, Tamamo-chan?" asked Naruto.

"Yup, now show me how you're to get us there," Tamamo replied.

"Alright then," Naruto approached the sea and channeled chakra to his feet before stepping out, soon he was walking on top of the seawater much to the surprise of the fox girl.

"You can walk on water?!"

Naruto looked over his shoulder with a foxy grin on his face "That and a lot more, better hold on while I take the scenic route to our next destination," then he immediately started running across the sea towards the first of the three islands to begin their search of the Moon tablet pieces before the others would get to them first.

* * *

Meanwhile in a dark room, BB and Passionlip along with third person still hidden in the shadows were looking at the monitors which were displaying the actions of the competitors as they searched for the required relics, but their eyes were settled on Naruto as he carried Tamamo towards one of the islands though they weren't pleased with him carrying the fox girl.

"How lucky that she gets to be carried by him," said Passionlip with a cute pout.

"Well she certainly won't be doing so for long if I have anything to say about it," said the shadowed girl.

"That's enough Meltlilith, we need to focus on the current matter at hand," said BB sternly, silencing Meltlilith "Apparently Kiara has made contact with Naruto-kun for the second time and informed of something which is making him keep his distance from us,"

"Could she be trying to expose the truth about us and the Moon Cell? That will go against the contract made between us," said Meltlilith with her eyes narrowed.

"I may not be so sure, but we need to make sure that there is no room for errors in the system. There can only be one who will access the Moon Cell and make a wish…no one else. We should also be prepared should the need to face him in the battlefields come," said BB.

"Hai/H-hai" said the two girls, although Passionlip was feeling unsure of the plan. She didn't want to fight and possibly delete the blonde ninja for he was the first who wanted to befriend her and not hurt her unlike the others before him.

" _Please don't believe what that woman told you, Naruto-kun,"_ thought Passionlip worriedly.

" _Hmph, been wanting to fight him and see how strong his love is. I wonder how it would feel on this body of mine?"_ thought Meltlilith

"Remember that it must all go according to plan…," said BB as the light in her eyes were slowly darkening with the same going for the other two.

* * *

 **This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto has taken in Alice and her caster whom he named Shiori into his care, then later encountered Passionlip whom he befriended along the way. Later on, he was placed in a tag-team matchup with Tamamo as his partner as they entered the next stage and are currently en route to the next area in search of the Moon tablet pieces. But what was this warning that Kiara told him about which could possibly involve his chakra and Kurama? And what plan are BB and the two other game masters talking about? Stay tuned to find out more.**

 **So read and review as always.**

 **This is Hussbek from Ghana**

 **Signing out.**


	11. Double or Nothing

**Maelstrom EXE.**

"Normal speech"

" **Tailed Beast speech"**

[Talking from the PET]

 **Chapter 9: Double or Nothing**

Naruto and Tamamo arrived at one of the three islands, particularly the western one. He reached the sandy shore and placed the fox girl down from his back although she was pouted a bit at that.

" _I wish I could stay on his back a little longer,"_ thought Tamamo while trying not to whine.

"Now that we've arrived at the island, let's go look for the temple and search for any clues leading to the Moon tablet," said Naruto while scoping out the area for any signs of enemies.

"Okay Maelstrom-kun," said Tamamo happily.

The duo made their way from the beach and past the palm trees to enter the forest ahead of them, Naruto and Tamamo took to leaping along the branches of the trees to get around quickly. It took some time when Naruto landed on a branch and gestured for Tamamo to stop with the fox girl landing next to him.

"What's the matter?" Tamamo whispered to him.

"Look over there," Naruto pointed for her to look.

Ahead of them is a large clearing and built on it appears to be a temple of eastern design adorned with coral reefs, shells among other sea themed decoration. In the center is a large grey statue depicting a giant serpentine dragon which is coiled around a giant pearl atop a circular pedestal, however there are also fishmen patrolling the area.

"We'll need to clear them out first before anything else," said Naruto.

"But how do we do that?" asked Tamamo curiously.

" **I'm somehow surprised that you aren't spamming your shadow clones to sweep the enemies out,"** said Kurama with a quirked eyebrow.

" _True, but I want to reserve my chakra in case we run into the others or if worse data ghosts. That last one we faced showed just how tough the past fighters were,"_ thought Naruto then h snapped back into focus "I got an idea, first we trigger some confusion amongst the guards before rushing in to take them while they try to gather themselves,"

"Okay, Maelstrom-kun,"

"Yo 'Naruto', I'll be needing the bombs," said Naruto.

"Coming right up, Multiple MiniBomb battle chips in, and download!" C-Naruto held many battlechips in between his fingers and proceeded to rapidly insert in them into the PET, Naruto cupped his hands together for the spherical bombs to materialize on them. He tossed them into the air then proceeded to grab each one and throw in direction of the shrine grounds as they exploded and threw up clouds of dust.

The fishmen growled in confusion of the sudden attack, Naruto and Tamamo immediately rushed in to engage the enemies. Naruto conjured multiple cyber shuriken and flung them to strike a few of the fishmen while others deflected the projectiles before rushing at him with their cutlasses brandished, Naruto quickly unsheathed his chakra blade and the Vorpal blade then he constantly clashed steel with fishmen and quickly evades to avoid being overwhelmed. He backflipped several times to create some distance then threw both blades simultaneously to cut down some of them before returning to his hands.

Tamamo was constantly striking the enemies with her clawed fingers and at times switch to a barrage of kicks, she dashed sideways to avoid a thrust of a spear from one of the fishmen then she summoned her mirror to bash it hard then slammed a powerful palm thrust to send it careening into some of the into its compatriots. Tamamo took out a spell tag "Charm: Frigid Heaven!" she threw it at the fishmen which then encased them in a large block of ice, she twirled round with her tail enlarging to smash the both them and the ice into smaller pieces before facing the next incoming group of enemies. Several of the fishmen opened their mouths wide to spew powerful streams of water at the fox girl but she managed to outpace them with her acrobatic skills whilst using her mirror to deflect any from potentially hitting her. In midair, Tamamo tossed several spell tags into the air and launched the first batch to unleash multiple fiery explosions then taking hold of the second batch "Curse: Chaos Heaven!" she threw them to trigger large vortex of razor sharp winds to slice through a majority of the fishmen.

Naruto himself was busy at his side as he had summoned the Aurum Blade and shifted its form to the Tiger Claws for speed and maneuverability to weave in and out of the group, he dashed backwards to evade a slash whilst rapidly firing plasma shots in retaliation "Hang on, I'm sending a chip on the way! Boomerang battlechip in, download!" C-Naruto inserted a chip as Naruto's right arm transformed into an attachment with a v-shaped bladed boomerang latched on to it then he threw it towards the fishmen to slice through them "FireHit battle chip in, download!" Naruto's fists ignited in flames before lunging at the remainder of the fishmen to unleash a barrage of fiery punches to take them all out.

Soon enough, the entire temple was clear of enemies as Naruto and Tamamo can now feel less vigilante for the meantime.

"Well that's all of them, now we can take a closer look at this shrine,"' said Naruto.

"Yup," Tamamo nodded in affirmation.

The duo began to examine every part of the shrine the best they could and so far they haven't found anything which could give them any kind of clues which might lead them to the pieces of the Moon Tablet.

"I'm not finding anything useful around here, what about your side Tamamo?" asked Naruto.

Said fox girl was checking out the dragon statue outside "Nothing here either…hm?" she leant on the statue when it suddenly rotated sideways "Maelstrom-kun, come and take a look at this!"

Naruto walked out of the shrine to approach with a quirked eyebrow "What is it?"

"The statue seems to be able to rotate, it might mean something,"

Naruto gazed at the statue thoughtfully "Hmmm…you might be right, let's rotate it and see what happens," Naruto created a few shadow clones and together they began to rotate the statue a few times when it suddenly locked in place then slowly sank into the ground and stopped with a click as the giant pearl began to glow with a blue aura. The island rumbled slightly then stopping.

"Well that did something, but the question is what?" said Naruto.

"Maybe if we did the same for the two statues in the other islands, something might happen," said Tamamo.

"Sounds like the best lead we got, so let's for island #2," said Naruto taking out the map to plan a route to the destination.

"Okay!" said Tamamo, giddy at the thought of being carried across the sea again.

The duo returned to the shore where Naruto marked the direction before putting the map away and beckoned Tamamo to get on his back again, something she was all too happy to do so as she hopped onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck much to the blonde's surprise.

" **Well what do we have here? A girl who actually wants to be carried by you, I dare say that you got to do something that perverted toad sage would never get to do and one upped him,"** said Kurama with a sly grin.

" _It's not like that Kurama, there's no way I'll ever be a super pervert like Pervy Sage…though you got a point there,"_ thought Naruto, inwardly agreeing in the end.

Naruto channeled chakra to his feet once more before running on top of the seawater as fast as he can without tiring himself out. It took them some time but they soon arrived at the next island, the duo traversed the forest and reached the second temple. This one's building structure is similar to the first temple but it comprised entirely of wood as it was built atop a lake. Naruto and Tamamo were also to locate the second dragon statue, and sure enough there were fishmen patrolling the area with a new addition of hulking humanoid sharks equipped with armor and spiked maces.

"There's the next statue, let's clear these guys out then we can activate the second statue," said Naruto.

"I'm ready when you are, Maelstrom-kun," said Tamamo.

"Then let's go!" Naruto charged forward with Tamamo close behind as they quickly entered the temple grounds, attracting the attention of the aquatic soldiers. Naruto crossed the idle and index fingers of each hand together "Shadow Clone jutsu!" he created a squad of clones to rush at one of the sharkmen who swung his mace at them but they quickly evaded the attack, the first two clones performed a dual high kick at the enemy's torso to make him bend over then third lashed out with a backflip kick to knock his head up "Bronzefist battlechip in, download!" Naruto's right hand was equipped with a bronze gauntlet as he swung at the sharkman to smash him to the ground, dispersing him into data. One of his clones grabbed him by the arm and flung him sideways before being hit by a powerful water stream by a fishman, Naruto performed a one-handed sideflip before conjuring several cyber kunai in both hands then launching them to take his target down "Chakra Blade Wave!" Naruto unsheathed his chakra blade and channeled chakra through it before swinging it to launch a blue crescent wave of energy to slice through several more of the fishmen.

" **Don't look now, but it looks like the vixen is in a bit of a pinch,"** said Kurama urgently.

Naruto looked over his shoulders to see that Tamamo was fighting several fishmen and evading their cutlasses but the sharkmen weren't making it any easier for her with their spiked maces "Darn it, I gotta help her!"

"I'm on it boss! Areasteal and Mettaur Guard battlechips in, download!" C-Naruto rapidly inserted the battlechips into the PET, Naruto warped from where he stood too reappear next to Tamamo then he went down on one knee and slammed a palm on the ground as a large helmet shaped shield to encase both of them, the sharkmen swung at the shield but were knocked back upon impact.

"Thank you Maelstrom-kun, now it's my turn," Tamamo stepped forward as her body emitted a purple flaming aura with two large concentrations on her hands and was hovering a foot from the ground "Higan-bana Sessho-seki!" She thrust her hands forward to launch a large purple sphere of magic energy which exploded in a wide radius upon impact with one of the fishmen, many were destroyed into pixels while the others suddenly turned green and collapsed before following the same fate as the rest.

"Okay, now that we're…," Naruto stopped in midsentence and quickly summoned the Aurum Blade and pointed it over his shoulder to fire a plasma shot, then there was the sound of groaning for a moment before silence "…alone, let's twist the next statue," he created another group of shadow clones and together they rotated the second dragon statue several times until it locked in place then slowly sank into the ground and stopped with a click as the giant pearl began to glow with a blue aura, the island shook again and a bit more violently than the first one before going still once more.

"We only got one more to go," said Tamamo excitedly.

"Yeah and I bet the security is gonna be tougher than the last two," said Naruto.

"I'm sure we can handle them too, let's get going already," Tamamo grabbed Naruto's hand and started pulling him back to the shore.

" **Looks like someone's looking forward to being carried again, at this rate she'll stay on your back and never get off,"** said Kurama teasingly.

" _Cut it out Kurama, it's not like that!"_ thought Naruto with a pink tinge on his cheeks.

" **I beg to differ,"**

* * *

The duo returned to the shore and plotted their route to the third island before crossing the seas once more until finally arriving at their next destination. Naruto and Tamamo went into the forest to search for the temple, but it seems like this one is a bit harder to find to find unlike the last two. Naruto created several shadow clones to scout the area more thoroughly, after explaining to Tamamo about the passive ability of the jutsu for better understanding.

"This might be a little more difficult than before," said Naruto with a small frown.

"I'm sure we can handle whatever comes our way," said Tamamo cheerfully, getting the blonde to smile as well.

"You're right, no time for negativity," Naruto feel a memory flow into his mind and realized that one of his shadow clones hand just found something interesting "Come on Tamamo-chan, one of my clones found something which might be useful clue for us,"

"Lead the way,"

Naruto went on ahead with Tamamo close behind as the duo leapt through the treetops for some time until landing in a small clearing before a tall cliff with a waterfall before them, this was where the clone was before it dispelled itself to send its memory to the original.

"This was where the clone dispelled itself," said Naruto.

"But what is there to find here?" asked Tamamo.

Naruto looked around the area for anything out of the ordinary and so far wasn't coming up with any ideas, then he recalled something that Kakashi told him during one of their training exercises. He looked at the waterfall and examined it closely before noticing something beyond it…a cavern entrance hidden behind the cover of the waterfall.

"Looks like Kakashi-sensei was right again, sometimes you just gotta look underneath the underneath both literally and figuratively," Naruto muttered.

"Huh?" Tamamo tilted her head cutely to the side.

"There's a hidden entrance behind the waterfall, it must lead to the third temple," said Naruto.

Tamamo blinked in surprise "So that was it, then let's go!"

Naruto and Tamamo went past the waterfall and through the hidden entrance, they walked through a tunnel which was dimly lit with glowing crystals until reaching the end as it led into a large cavern with an underground lake where they found the third temple being built over it, and sure enough it is being guarded by fishmen and sharkmen.

"Same routine like, but watch out for surprises," said Naruto.

"You got it," said Tamamo in affirmation.

Naruto and Tamamo rushed forward while launching the Chakra Blade and mirror respectively as spinning projectiles towards the enemies whilst rapidly closing the distance to engage them in close combat with their weapons returning to them. Naruto rolled on ground to evade a heavy swing of the spiked mace from a sharkman then slashed at the torso with his Chakra Blade before summoning the Aurum blade while pulling the trigger to rapidly fire plasma bullets then finished up by performing a cross-slash with both weapons. He quickly ducked as Tamamo leapt overhead and slammed into a fishman with a flying side kick then she manipulated her mirror to fly around her and strike her target consecutively before tossing a spell tag to unleash a wind vortex for extra damage, the fox girl twirled round to evade a slash from her left side and retaliated with a four-hit punching combo and a roundhouse kick to knock it away from her as a volley of cyber shuriken flew past her to finish it off.

"Shotgun battlechip in, download!" C-Naruto inserted a battlechip into the Pet, Naruto put away the Chakra Blade for his arm to transform into a small cannon then he took aim at the enemies and began firing a salvo of energy shots which pierced through the first ones to strike the ones behind, some of the fishmen launched streams of water at Naruto but Tamamo intercepted the attacks by having her mirror hover before her to block them. Naruto ran past Tamamo towards the enemies as he created two shadow clones at both sides, they proceeded to create a Rasengan on each hand as they ran until they were completely formed "Rasengan Barrage!" he rammed the first spiraling sphere into sharkman's torso blow him away and slam into others in his path, then he rammed the second into a fishman for the same result.

"A few more of these guys left to take down and we're…huh?" something caught Naruto's attention from the corner of his eye and turn to see something bubbling in the lake then something burst out from the water to reveal to be a giant green sea snake as the reptile hissed loudly before looking down at the perpetrators with a hungry look in its eyes "Snakes…why does it have to be snakes, especially of the supersize variety?"

" **As much as I want to feel amused about all this, look sharp!"** said Kurama urgently.

Naruto instinctively leapt out of the way as the snake lunged at him with its jaws wide open "Oh hell no! one of your cousins ate me, another tried to eat me, but you're not gonna eat me!" the snake simply hissed and slithered towards him, Naruto continuously dashed backwards and was constantly flinging cyber kunai and shuriken but they didn't seem to be damaging it as much as he thought, he rolled out of the way to avoid another chomp but the serpent was relentless.

"Maelstrom-kun hold on, I'm coming!" Tamamo took out several spell tags from her sleeve "Curse: Thunderstorm Heaven!" she threw them to trigger a large electrical discharge upon contact with the snake, causing it to hiss loudly in pain before turning to glare at the fox girl before charging at her. Tamamo ran around the stalagmites to slow the snake down but it easily smashed through due to its size and was catching up to her, the snake was just about to chomp at her when it hissed in pain again, Tamamo turned round to see that Naruto was standing atop the snake's head with his Chakra Blade stabbed deeply into its skin "Maelstrom-kun, be careful!"

"I know!" Naruto called back, the snake began thrashing about wildly to shake Naruto off but he held on and was pushing the blade further inside then unsheathed the Vorpal Blade to stab with it too which made it thrash even more wildly "Come on snakey, is that all you got!?"

"Look out, behind you!" Tamamo called out in alert.

Naruto looked back for his eyes to widen in shock as the snake was backing towards the cavern wall to smash into it, he pulled out both blades and leapt off in time then landed on the ground with a roll.

"Phew, that was a close one," said Naruto.

" **Don't look now, but here it comes again!"** said Kurama urgently.

"Already on it!" Naruto sheathed the blades and waited for his clone to send in a battlechip "Yoyo battlechip in, download!" his right arm transformed into an armament as he launched a bladed yoyo towards the snake and had the rope wrap around it then he quickly dashed towards a stalagmite to wrap the other end around it for support. The snake struggled to break free but Naruto held strong and summoned the Aurum Blade to shoot at it constantly, Tamamo was quick to join in by throwing her spell tags for elemental damage with the snake getting far more damaged, however it managed to break free by snapping the rope but was moving slowly "Now's the time to finish it off! Cannon triple battlechips in, download!" Naruto's left and right arms transformed into green cannons as he held together over his head and they fused to form a large green cannon, Naruto took aim at the giant snake with the cannon charging up energy "Program Advance: Giga Cannon v1!" he fired a large beam which instantly deleted the snake.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief as the cannon dissipated into pixels and his faceplate retracted "I'm glad that's over and done with,"

"Me too, we haven't found the Moon Tablet yet and we're getting a bit tired from all this," said Tamamo.

"True, now let's twist the last dragon statue and see what happens next," said Naruto, then he created another group of shadow clones to rotate the statue as it locked in place like the others but this time the tremor is so much greater than the previous two "Let's get out of here in case this cave collapses!"

Tamamo nodded in affirmation "Okay!"

The duo rushed out of the cave and made their way back to the shore, it was there that they saw something unbelievable…something was rising from the sea! Naruto and Tamamo stood and watched as the wonder rose completely until revealing it to be a large rocky island covered in coral of different colors, but it didn't end there as the tide began to recede and reveal a long sandy bank leading all the way to the island from where they stood like a bridge of sorts.

"So it wasn't that the island sank to the bottom of the ocean, but it was rather hidden underwater," said Naruto in wonder.

"And those statues are what made it to rise to the surface, now that I think of it all three of the dragon statues were in the direction of the fourth island," said Tamamo.

" **Quite the puzzle if you look at it from a certain point of view,"** said Kurama.

"That's good and all but we need to go and check it out quickly, all this commotion would have long since attracted the others and we need to get there first before they do," said Naruto.

"You're right, let's hurry!" said Tamamo.

The duo quickly ran along the sand bank and arrived at the island, they searched around a bit before locating an entrance to a cave which they entered and walked through a tunnel until it ended at an underwater passageway to who knows where. Naruto was precautious enough to send in a few shadow clones just in case of traps, it took some time for Naruto to map out the proper route with some help from Kurama. Naruto dove in with Tamamo following him as they swam through the underwater passage as quickly as they could before surfacing at the end to pass through an entry into a massive circular chamber supported by large pillars made of coral, at the end is a shrine like the ones before and there they saw the complete Moon Tablet placed on it.

"We found it!" Tamamo hopped happily.

"Yeah, let's go get it!" Naruto and Tamamo began walking towards the shrine and were hallway there when a voice suddenly spoke up from behind them.

"I would suggest not approaching that shrine just yet," they turned round to see none other than Nero with Elizabeth standing next to her and squeezing the seawater out of her clothes with a frown.

"Mou. Why did they have to hide the tablet someplace wet?" Elizabeth whined a bit.

"How did you two get here?" asked Tamamo.

"They must have followed us here, I should have noticed we were being tailed," said Naruto with a small frown.

"That's quite astute of you Maelstrom-san, it seems like we're all at an impasse…however this is also an opportunity from a certain perspective," said Nero.

Tamamo tilted her head in confusion "What do you mean?"

"It's like I said before, I've been wanting to cross blades with you for quite some time and now the opportunity has finally presented itself," Nero held a hand out as there was a red flash of light to reveal her holding single-edged crimson sword designed to resemble a flame and a golden arm shield.

Naruto tensed at the sight of the finely crafted weapon, he hasn't forgotten about Nero expressing her desire to fight him as he felt the same way for others including herself though he wasn't exactly expecting to battle her at this time, he glanced sideways to see Tamamo looking just as tense as he is. There's no doubt that they're going to have to fight in order to stake their claim on the Moon Tablet.

"Well you two have had your fun in this tournament, but now it's time for you to get off the stage to make room for this Idol to steal the show," said Elizabeth haughtily as she summoned a dragon lance in hand, with everyone frowning at her in annoyance.

"It would have happened in the end, so I guess better late than never. So let's have a great battle," Naruto unsheathed his chakra blade and took a combat stance.

Nero nodded in approval "Umu, I finally get to witness your artistry in battle,"

"I'll take her on, she's been asking for it for long time till," Tamamo stared intently at Elizabeth, all those times the self-proclaimed idol had been making fun of Naruto and the others and she has the opportunity for payback.

 **Music Start: BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle OST; Queen of Rose (Rachel Alucard's Theme)  
** Nero rushed towards Naruto and attacked him with a diagonal slash of her sword, Naruto quickly created a shadow clone behind him for it to cup its hands together then Naruto jumped backwards to land on them before being tossed into the air to evade the strike and the clone was hit instead, Naruto descended with a downward slash only for Nero to dash backwards to evade the attack but he followed up by throwing the chakra blade like boomerang and followed after it whilst unsheathing the Vorpal blade. Nero deflected the incoming blade with a half-spin then quickly raised her sword to block the follow-up from Naruto. Both sides struggled to push the other back until they broke away and stood a fair distance apart, Naruto sheathed his blade with the chakra blade having reappeared in his sheath then he crossed his arms together and conjured multiple shuriken in his hands.

"Cyber shuriken!" Naruto began flinging volleys of throwing stars one after another at Nero, the red swordswoman was dashing in a zigzag pattern while deflecting any shuriken which might hit her and was right in front of Naruto whilst swinging her sword "Shadow Clone jutsu!" he quickly created a clone to appear in front of him with a pair of cyber kunai in hand to block the attack for him. Naruto maneuvered around them as he summoned the Aurum Blade and had it transform into the Tiger Claws then slashed at Nero, she kicked away the clone and turned round to block the first claw attack with her arm shield then the second one with her sword before pushing him away.

Nero took a stance "Rosa Ichthys!" she dashed towards Naruto and unleashed a three-hit sword combo upon him, Naruto defended himself with the claws but wasn't able to block all of the attacks and so took damage from them "Umu, I see now…you don't exactly have a sense 'style' trained into your body and yet you are capable of performing attacks and tactics without planning beforehand. That is quite exquisite and very rare form of art,"

"I guess I'll take that as a compliment," said Naruto confusedly "Let's see you handle this! Shadow Clone jutsu!" he created a large number of shadow clones before sending them at Nero. She was momentarily surprised before snapping back into focus, she rapidly switched between offense and defense against the attacking clones and was taking them down one by one. Suddenly four of the shadow clones were sliding towards her from four different directions "Na…Ru…To!" they all kicked simultaneously to launch Nero into the air towards the original who had jumped into the air beforehand "Uzumaki Barrage!" he lashed out with an axe kick to which she used the flat side of her blade to block but the impact sent her crashing to the ground with Naruto landing nearby.

"How's that? I'm just getting started!" said Naruto with a smirk.

Nero got back to her feet, looking bruised but smiling nonetheless "Most impressive, but then again I too am yet to battle with my full strength!"

Meanwhile Tamamo was exchanging blows with Elizabeth as she ducked and weaved from the swings and thrusts of the dragon lance before retaliating with her martial arts and the mirror, but the female lancer was just as skilled by using short flaps of her dragon wings to evade her opponent's attacks.

"Lert sügér Tran!" Elizabeth suddenly spun round with her back facing Tamamo then thrusting her lance between her two legs towards the fox girl who quickly somersaulted sideways to evade the attack then she took out a couple of spell tags before throwing them at her target "Le sang des Hongrie!" the self-proclaimed Idol called out before being damaged by the flaming vortex triggered by the spell tag, the flames died to reveal parts of her body burnt and suddenly she began to heal rapidly much to Tamamo's surprise "That was a hot tempo, and here's my verse!" Elizabeth flapped her wings to take to the air and flew about a bit before swooping towards Tamamo with the lance thrust at her. Tamamo dodged to the side but Elizabeth stabbed the lance to the ground and spun around on it to launch a double kick to send her flying back.

Tamamo recovered from the attack and flipped back to her feet and was glaring at Elizabeth, then she rushed in to engage her in close combat once more and attacked with twice the fervor and was able to land some hits on her opponents along which bashing several times with her mirror before knocking the female lancer with a flying side kick before jumping back and taking out a spell tag "Curse: Chaos Heaven!" she threw it to trigger a vortex of razor sharp wind to continuously strike Elizabeth before dissipating after stacking up a decent amount of damage, Tamamo launched her mirror to strike again but Elizabeth used her lance to deflect it "Estet Repülés!" she had her lance hover in the air before sitting on it like a witch riding a magic broom then had it lunge at Tamamo with great speed "Mantra: Aphotic Cave!" the fox girl had the mirror position in front of her to receive the attack, she flinched from the pain but was still able to keep fighting as the damage was reduced upon contact.

"I'm not going to lose to you!" said Tamamo determinedly.

"You're not going to upstage an idol like me!" Elizabeth retorted.

Naruto skidded backwards with slashes and bruises on him and his armor as he turned his attention to Nero was in the same state like him and both were panting slightly from exhaustion but still rearing to go on with this battle. He sent the Aurum Blade away then held the Chakra blade with both hands before charging towards Nero who charged right back at him, they met in the middle and constantly clashed blades with Nero using her skills whilst Naruto relied on his instincts to push back with both sides not giving the other an inch until jumping away for a momentary rest.

"Truly marvelous, you really are something to behold! Let us see how you will comprehend this form of art!" Nero stood upright with her sword held overhead and swings it in a circular motion, it gradually engulfs in flames "Sing, Fax Caelestis!" she dashed forward at high-speed towards Naruto who raised his sword to defend but she flashed past to stop behind him, suddenly a slash appeared on his armor then he was engulfed in flames.

Naruto went down on one knee with his body being burnt from the attack and bits of data were floating out of him "Darn it, what a move. I wasn't expecting anything like it,"

" **Stay focused kit, your body took critical damage!"** said Kurama urgently.

"Hang on boss! Recov80 battlechip in, download!" C-Naruto quickly inserted a battlechip into the PET as a white beacon of light shone upon Naruto and he began to recover to the point that he could still fight.

Naruto stood to his feet and faced Nero once more "I gotta admit that's a pretty cool move, but now it's my turn!" he raised the Chakra blade before him and tapped the glowing Konoha symbol as blue chakra surged out of the blade and took shape of a longer variation "Overflow State active, here I come Nero-san!" he dashed forwards all the while swinging the Chakra Blade rapidly to launch multiple waves of chakra towards the red swordswoman who dashed from side to side to avoid them with a few managing to strike parts of her body until Naruto arrived and clashed swords with her once more. Naruto flipped backwards in the air then thrust the blade below for the energy blade to extend towards the opponent but missed as she had moved away before retracting and landed back on the ground "Blistering Blades!" wisps of chakra flowed out of the blade and took on the of the Chakra Blade with four hovering at each side before launching them at the target with great speed but draining the chakra from the overflow by a certain amount.

Nero defended against the assault the best she could but took in some serious damage from the cloned chakra blades. She gazed at the blonde Shinobi and was truly impressed with his tenacity but she wasn't ready to go down just yet! Nero took out a rose then tossed it into the air and burst to shower the place with rose petals much to Naruto's confusion as well as the others.

" _What could she be up to?"_ thought Naruto.

" **I don't know but be on guard,"** said Kurama.

They watched as Nero stabbed her sword to the ground to form a magic circle around her and she began to speak some sort of incantation.

"I shall offer this gift to a full moon... Dancing scatters the flowers, and cleaves open a star! Behold the supreme beauty... and praise it! Aestus Domus Aurea!"

There was a bright flash of light all over the area before dimming to reveal everyone standing in what appears to be a large golden theater and Naruto took note that Nero's sword is now shrouded in flames. Naruto glanced to the side to see that Tamamo and Elizabeth had resumed their battle so he turned his attention back to his opponent.

" _If it's anything like Alice-chan's technique, then I bet that this one would have an effect on me and Tamamo,"_ thought Naruto.

"I have set up the perfect scenario for our climatic battle maelstrom-kun, let us see who shall emerge victorious!" Nero declared.

"We'll see!" Naruto unsheathed the Vorpal Blade to dual wield before engaging Nero in close combat, he constantly clashed blades with Nero but then as the battle continued, he noticed that Nero was getting faster and stronger…or was it that he was getting slower and weaker? Naruto jumped back and took note that the Chakra Blade's energy was flickering and the Overflow state was dissipating sooner than it was supposed to, he glanced to the side to see Tamamo looking just as exhausted _"Something's not right about this, do you have any idea what's going on?"_

" **Your power is being suppressed and is making you weaker as the time goes, this must be what this technique of hers does,"** said Kurama with a frown.

"Is there a way out of this?"

"You need to raise your power faster than it is reduced and defeat her to disrupt the technique, so I'm giving you my chakra!"

"Thanks Kurama, this the power boost I need for these kind of situations like always!"

Nero was taken by surprise when she saw a red aura burst out of Naruto's body and swirled around him in the form of tails before forming a layer around his body, his blue eyes changed to red and became slitted, and his hair became longer and spikier.

"W-what is this power? I've never sensed anything like it and it continues to increase. My phantasm might not be able to reduce it enough!" Nero saw him hunch over then disappeared in a blur, her instincts screamed at her to defend as she raised her arm shield in time to block a powerful punch from him and was sent skidding back from the impact "And his strength has increased as well…heh," she looks at Naruto with a smile on her face "Umu, as to be expected from you, continuously coming up with surprises is truly an artwork unique only to you!" she dashed at Naruto with her sword at the ready and proceeded to strike at him with fiery slashes, the now feral ninja summoned the Aurum Blade and had it transform into the Tiger Claws to fit his current 'style'. Two blurs cold be seen colliding repeatedly in the field for several moments before breaking away from each other.

"I believe that the time has come to bring an end to this memorable battle with use of our most powerful attacks, wouldn't you agree?" asked Nero.

"Yeah, fun's over,"

"Umu,"

Nero sent away her arm shield and positioned her sword to side in a slight crouch with the flame blazing strongly, Naruto sent away the Tiger Claws and unsheathed the Chakra Blade to activate it Overflow state once again then took a stance for a single sword strike. Both stared at each other intently for a few moments before charging at high-speed and struck with their best attacks!"

"Laus Saint Claudius!"

"Overslash!"

There was a large explosion then a flash of light which dimmed to reveal that the golden theater had disappeared and everyone were back in the temple. The flames died down to reveal Naruto standing albeit partially scorched while Nero land on her back with her sword laid next to her, she looked at Naruto still smiling.

 **Music End**

"It appears that this battle has ended in your victory and my defeat, I feel no regret," said Nero.

Naruto nodded in affirmation with his mouth guard retracting and Kurama withdrawing his chakra "Yeah but I gotta say that you were totally strong,"

"I'll accept that compliment wholeheartedly, though I might not be able to get my wish,"

"I'm sure you can accomplish it even without the Holy Grail,"

"I see…perhaps next time we meet, we could battle again,"

Naruto gave her a foxy grin "Sure, I'll be ready at any time!" Nero giggled at that then she disappeared in a beam of light. Naruto turned to see Tamamo approaching him while covered in bruises and parts of her kimono were torn but she was smiling brightly "I take it that you won Tamamo-chan,"

The fox girl nodded happily "Yup! She was tough but I managed to beat her by using my noble phantasm for the win, I wasn't going to let her off after all those mean things she said to us! And she was whining about us stopping her from being an idol,"

"Heh that's true, now let's get that Moon Tablet and return to the academy so that Sakura-chan can patch us up!"

"Yeah, I look awful like this,"

The duo approached the shrine and took the Moon Tablet then used it to release a beam of light towards the ground to form a small circular platform with a metallic outline and a glowing bright blue center with the symbol of a moon at a focal point. They stepped onto the portal and felt themselves being transported back to the academy.

* * *

 **This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto and Tamamo has arrived at the first of the three islands where they discovered a strange machination of the shrine situated there and so thought to access the same one in the other islands for a possible lead to the Moon Tablet. After a couple island hopping, battling and triggering mystery switches, the duo managed to uncover a fourth island which they entered and found the Moon Tablet. However, they also encountered Nero and Elizabeth then had to battle them for the right to claim the Moon Tablet before emerging victorious and liable to advance to the next round…with only two rounds left, things are starting to get really heated.**

* * *

 **Here's a little something to catch your interest in the future of this story:**

Naruto was walking through a street of a town of Victorian design in the middle of the night with a look of confusion. He was in his NetNavi form and yet he's not in the internet either.

"What the heck is going on? One moment I was checking out an interesting E-book for Alice-chan and Shiori-chan then the next minute I wake up here…and what's with these large black and red blocks? I don't think they really suit the scenery here," Naruto passed by one of many said boxes with a side glance, suddenly he saw something rise from the ground before him.

They appear to be goblin-like creatures but their entire bodies are completely black with the exception of their circular glowing yellow eyes. The creatures slowly approached Naruto as he took a step back before unsheathing his Chakra Blade and Aurum Blade with a frown on his face.

"These guys again? They keep showing up everywhere I go," Naruto took a step forward when he heard someone call out from behind.

"Watch out, those Heartless are dangerous!" Naruto looked behind him to see a boy about his age with brown spiky hair and wielding a large skeleton key like a sword.

" _Who is this guy?"_ thought Naruto.

* * *

 **So read and review as always.**

 **This is Hussbek from Ghana**

 **Signing out.**


	12. Secrets

**Maelstrom EXE.**

"Normal speech"

" **Tailed Beast speech"**

[Talking from the PET]

 **Chapter 10: Secrets**

Naruto woke up from bed with a loud yawn and saw that Alice and Shiori were still fast asleep on both sides, he quietly got off the bed to avoid waking them up before checking his stats which are all in good condition before calling onto Kurama.

"Looks like yesterday was rather hectic, don't you think so Kurama?" asked Naruto.

" **That is an understatement, those two which you and the vixen faced were quite strong. But happened yesterday at the infirmary was rather queer,"** said Kurama.

Naruto thought back to when he and Tamamo went to the infirmary for Sakura to heal them, then her reaction to a question which he asked.

 ****Flashback Start****

 _Naruto and Tamamo emerged from the Sakura Labyrinth and made their way to the school infirmary which they entered, there Sakura smiled upon seeing them._

" _Ah Maelstrom-kun, Tamamo-san. It's good to see you two again," said Sakura fondly._

" _Same here Sakura-chan, we just got back from completing the next stage of the tournament," said Naruto with a foxy grin._

" _Perhaps you can tell me more about it while I patch you two up,"_

 _Naruto and Tamamo sat on the cot and told Sakura about what they had been through and the battles that they had especially with the one against Nero and Elizabeth which they emerged victorious before claiming the Moon Tablet and exiting from the labyrinth which filled the nurse with intrigue._

" _And better yet, we finally able to get back at that Elizabeth girl who was being so mean to us and proved to be the better vixen," said Tamamo cheerfully._

" _That's nice to hear," said Sakura with a smile._

 _Naruto looked rather thoughtful before speaking up "I've been wondering about something Sakura-chan, but are you familiar with BB?" he noticed her suddenly stiffen at the question before turning towards him._

" _What makes you ask that question?"_

" _Well I've noticed that you two look alike like twins besides the fact that your hairstyles are a bit different," the blonde ninja pointed._

" _Now that you mention it, he does have a point about how you two look alike. So you know her?" asked Tamamo curiously._

 _Sakura looked to be struggling for an answer to their question before speaking up in a subdued tone "I…know her in a way, but I can't really describe how so. It is rather complicated to explain,"_

 _Tamamo tilted her head in confusion "I don't really get it, you know BB-san but at the same time you don't,"_

" _She does have a point there, maybe you don't recall how you two met?" asked Naruto with a quirked eyebrow._

 _Sakura nodded slowly "Something like that, can we…not talk about it anymore…please?"_

" _Uh okay, let's talk about something else," Naruto choose another subject for the conversation but still couldn't help but think back on her reaction._

 ****Flashback End****

" _What do you think happened back there?"_ asked Naruto thoughtfully.

" **I can guess about two things, first is that she knows BB but is too fearful to reveal anything about her and the second is that she has fragmented memories about her,"** said Kurama musingly.

" _I guess that's the gist of it, but Kiara-san seems to know her very well and isn't afraid of BB-san,"_

" **And that rubs me the wrong way, like I said before that you best tread lightly around her,"**

" _If you say so Kurama, there's more to this tournament than I think we're allowed to know. Maybe we should try to find out on our own,"_

Kurama frowned in thought at that suggestion **"Maybe so, I recall that this place had ruins on our way into the building which means there could be clues left behind by those that lived here. Send a shadow clone out there to investigate while we attempt to do the same here,"**

" _But how? I can't jack-out to the PET to use the jutsu,"_ said Naruto confusedly.

" **Your clone that wears the Holobrace can perform the jutsu to form one before recharging with one of the Chakra Battery tags,"**

" _Good idea,"_ Naruto contacted his clone and had him do just that with the shadow clone turning into a mouse and sneaking out the slightly open door to carry out its assigned task _"Alright then, now for us to do the same but where should we start?"_

" **I suggest revisiting the previous stages, there should be something in one of those places,"** said Kurama.

" _Roger that,"_ Naruto nodded in affirmation.

"Naruto?" he turned around to see Alice and Shiori awake and were looking at him "Is there something wrong?"

"Oh nothing's wrong, just that I'm planning on doing some training in the Sakura Labyrinth before the next stage is announced later in the day," Naruto responded.

Alice was saddened upon hearing that "So you won't have any time to play with us?"

Naruto to pat them softly on their heads "Don't be so sad, we're drawing close to the end of the tournament after which I'll take you two home with me. That way we can spend most of the time together with lesser major events getting in the way,"

"You promise?" asked Shiori with hope.

"Of course, you know that I always keep my promises,"

"Okay, I hope you get stronger so you can win and we can leave together," said Alice, getting Naruto to smile fondly.

The blonde cyber ninja bade the girls farewell before leaving the room and out of the dorm towards the entrance of the Sakura Labyrinth where he selected the coastal stage to begin his investigation. He soon arrived at the location and began making his way towards the first of the now four islands particularly the shrines for something out of the ordinary.

* * *

Meanwhile, the clone had stealthily made his way out of the building by using the ventilation system in order to avoid detection from the cameras and the drones patrolling the hallways. He was soon jumping along the tree branches and looking around for anything when he chanced upon a small site of ruins before approaching it to take a closer look. C-Naruto checked around a couple of times when he caught glimpse of what appears to be a trapdoor underneath a piece of a stone pillar and so began pushing to the side with great effort to create a big enough opening for him to squeeze through.

"I wonder what's in here? Maybe something that could help the boss," said C-Naruto thoughtfully as he went through a dark tunnel with flickering light bulbs overhead to light up the way a bit as he traversed the rubble partially obstructing his path when he arrived at the end of the tunnel to go through an open doorway. C-Naruto found himself standing in the middle of what appears to be a research laboratory only that there are pieces of debris here and here, broken computers and sheets of paper scattered all over the place.

C-Naruto walked about and picking up the sheets to see formulas and matrixes which are very complex for him to understand "The way this place appears, it might be that this island was hit by an earthquake or something…hm?" he glanced to side to catch sight of a worn notebook, he picked it up and dusted the cover with a hand to see a handwritten title "…' .PH', it sounds important. I think I should read this since it might contain information about the Moon Cell itself," the clone sat underneath the only lit light bulb and began to read through the notebook.

* * *

Back with Naruto, he was currently exploring the forest area of the forest stage with a frown on his face. He had been investigating the other two stages earlier before but had found nothing relevant besides being annoyed by the enemies residing within them for him to take down along the way with a couple of battlechips being used.

"Darn it, I've been everywhere and I'm not finding anything good. I hope that my clone is having better luck out there," said Naruto with a grumble.

" **I was hoping the same, perhaps they were too well hidden,"** said Kurama with a frown.

"Maybe I should return to the dorm and wait for the clone to dispel in hopes of gaining some decent info," Naruto turned to walk away when the breeze suddenly picked up around him "Hm? What is that…a voice?"

" _Come…follow…breeze…,"_

"Are you hearing it too Kurama?" asked Naruto confusedly, receiving a grunt of affirmation from the Bijuu "Think I should follow it?"

" **Maybe so, but proceed with caution in the case that the voice might lead you into a trap,"** said Kurama.

"Got it,"

Naruto followed the direction of which the breeze was blowing whilst keeping an eye out for any kind of trap with his hands close to his weapons to quickly draw them out at the slightest appearance of any kind of oddity. He was led down to the lower level of the forest which he had come from not too long ago, it took some time until Naruto found himself standing before a large oak tree.

"The trail ends here, so what now?" Naruto cautiously approached the tree's trunk and tapped it with a finger only to be surprised to see a ripple effect akin to that of when touching the surface of a still water "Eh? Could this be some sort of camouflage to cover up an entrance?"

" **Apparently so, but the question is what lies beyond it?"**

"Only one way to find out," Naruto cautiously stepped through the trunk to find himself walking through a dark tunnel and emerging at the end to find himself standing within a grotto with a small lake, further ahead is a cozy looking cottage "Wasn't expecting to see something like this here…huh?" he noticed the front door opening and saw someone stepping out of it.

Before is a young girl about his age with purple hair which has a yellow ribbon tied to the left side and bright green-yellow eyes. She wears a green kimono with yellow clothing underneath and white frilly collar. The sleeves and the back of her dress has slightly darker color. On the front of her dress are yellow ropes woven into her kimono that tied into two knots and with two tassels, two more tassels are attached to the bottom of her sleeves. The girl also wears a black short under her kimono and a pair of yellow shoes with white socks. What is bugging Naruto is that the girl looks like a younger version of Sakura just like BB and Passionlip.

The girl looked at Naruto and smiled politely "I've been waiting to meet you Maelstrom exe…or should I address you by your true name Naruto Uzumaki,"

Naruto's eyes widened in shock at what she just said with Kurama narrowing his eyes in suspicion "H-How did you know who I am?" the blonde's hands inched slowly towards the Chakra Blade and Vorpal Blade at the slightest provocation.

"I'm mean you no harm in the least, rather I seek your assistance hence why I called you here," said the girl in a calm manner.

"You still haven't answered my question," Naruto retorted with a frown.

"The reason why I know is that you and your 'NetOp' shared the same unique energy signature albeit you possess a larger vestige than the other, I'm not the only one as BB and the other Alter Egos also know who you really are and one of the main reasons why you were invited into the tournament,"

"…well you know my real name but I don't know yours,"

"Forgive my rudeness, I am Kazuradrop the Alter Ego of BB," said the girl with a bow.

"Alter Ego?" asked Naruto confusedly.

"I have a lot to explain and I can tell that you're seeking answers concerning this tournament which was why you were pretending to explore the labyrinth for hidden answer so I took the opportunity to call out to you," Kazuradrop waved a hand to make two chairs and a table appear before her "Please take a seat and I'll tell you what you want to know,"

Naruto was hesitant and sought out Kurama's opinion _"What do you think, should I trust her?"_

" **I can't say for sure, she might hold answers to some of our questions but exercise caution like before,"** said Kurama.

Naruto nodded in affirmation and went to sit on the chair while Kazuradrop went to sit on the other "Alright then, so what do you mean by being an Alter Ego of BB?"

"What I meant by Alter Ego is that I along with four others are offshoots made from the fragments of BB's emotions, created to act as her vanguard and cores to expand the Sakura Labyrinth. Despite being offshoots born from BB's emotions into new souls, we developed our own original hearts and existence separate from her. However we have no true freedom because the cores are still fragments of BB," said Kazuradrop.

"Sounds like my Shadow Clone jutsu but different and sounds more advanced," thought Naruto with Kurama listening attentively "But who exactly are these Alter Egos?"

"Besides me, there's Passionlip whom you've already met, Meltlilith, Violet, and Kingprotea," said Kazuradrop, surprising the blonde about the girl whom he had met before "However the last two were wiped out from the system by BB herself for reasons I myself don't know,"

"Okay…but why is it that you all look like Sakura? I've been wondering about that for a while now,"

Kazuradrop let out a sigh at the question "That's because…BB herself is an offshoot of Sakura herself, an AI born to rebel against the system of the Moon Cell,"

"What?! How did that happen?" asked Naruto.

"Sakura used to be a regular AI with within the system, someone had unleashed a sense of freedom within her but she could not control that abnormal status and caused an overload. Because the NPCs cannot do anything but routine work, they ignored Sakura who began to disintegrate as something "nonexistent" and since the Moon Cell's check was performed only at the end of the day, Sakura was in a crisis of being extinguished. However her abnormal status affecting her new sense of self-preservation led to the creation of BB who then disrupted the system of the Moon Cell and began an extensive reconstruction and periods of resetting to work towards her goals,"

"What are her goals?" asked Naruto.

"I don't truly know, many victors of the tournament came and went whilst having their wishes granted but also had their memories concerning the tournament wiped out. However I've noticed that there are changes to the system which is rather unusual of her and I fear nothing good will come out of it,"

"But I don't get it, I understand that you're an offshoot of BB with a free will but why are you opposing her and the other Alter Egos?"

"Because I detest them for that they act on their own desire instead of continuing their original function as the "perfect" infirmary AI and I wish to become one with Sakura and be whole once more,"

"Now that you mention it, Sakura doesn't seem to know BB all that much and is rather afraid of her," said Naruto thoughtfully.

"That is because parts of her core are fragmented with BB possessing the missing parts, recovering the pieces will help restore Sakura to her default state, however BB is instinctively aware and would have deleted her but the saving grace is that none of us are capable of harming her as it would lead to our nonexistence," said Kazuradrop.

"That's some good news at least, so how exactly are we to do it?"

"You're to reach the core of the Moon Cell which is at the very bottom of the Sakura Labyrinth, there is where the victor would make a wish. You need to continue winning the rounds in order to reach it, but beware that BB might try to stop you as she might be aware of you suspecting her by sending the Alter Egos upon you,"

" **We're in deep on this, just like with your past missions back in your home dimension,"** Kurama mused.

"The way you said it sounds like they're pretty strong, but just how strong are they?"

"During our creation, BB brought us into existence as beings with Composite Divinity formed from several goddesses, leading to us possessing powers and abilities that could overwhelm any kind of opposition," Kazuradrop explained.

"Oh boy, looks I got my work cut out for me," Naruto rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"However, they're not without exploitable weaknesses. Being an Alter Ego enables me to be aware of their weak points which I can inform you of…use this to counter their main ability," Kazuradrop held out a palm to summon what appears to be a small blue diamond with matrixes of numbers swirling within it.

"Supposing I do this, what will happen to me and the others after all this?" asked Naruto still not fully trusting the girl.

"I can understand your reason of disbelief, but know that I spoke the absolute truth in the hopes that you could help Sakura and I become what we're truly meant to be,"

Naruto looked into her eyes for any signs of deception and isn't finding any, he was silent for a few moments before letting out a sigh and speaking "I'll trust you on this for now but if I find out that you were deceiving me…I'll definitely blow you away,"

"Understood, I hope that you see that I am telling nothing but the truth," Kazuradrop held out the diamond once and this time Naruto took it albeit reluctantly before getting up from his seat and began making his way back out of the tunnel to return to the dormitory to rest and recharge the battlechips for the forthcoming round, he was almost at the tunnel when he head Kazuradrop call out to him "please exercise caution as the Moon Cell would attempt to do you harm as it has outed you as an anomaly,"

"Heh, story of my life but I'll find a way to get through like I always do," Naruto responded before entering the tunnel, disappearing from the girl's sight.

* * *

Naruto had returned to the dormitory and was laying on his bed to recover while having a discussion with Kurama over what they had learnt from Kazuradrop along with the memories received from the shadow clone whom he had sent to scout the ruins for clues and had found a notebook which contained information concerning the Moon Cell.

[ _The Moon Cell is, in a manner of speaking, an eye that observes the Earth.  
A processor that faithfully simulates all life on Earth and is capable of providing a definite prediction of the future.  
A database of humanity. A massive memory recording their habits, history, ideas, even their souls. A Pandora's box that promises the next stage of evolution, promises god-like power to those intelligent life forms who have become technologically advanced enough to scan the interior of the moon._

 _Originally it was an observation device left behind by an alien civilization. It had only recorded the nature of life on Earth, but after many years it came to possess its current abilities.  
Though an observation device initially, it could not leave anything unseen in its observations._

 _An observation device must be fair. If it is to observe, there must be nothing unseen. Thus, it required capabilities for knowing everything about the Earth.  
To record all things without bias, it needed performance greater than that of an observation device._

 _And so, it had made a giant leap in evolution._

 _It had enhanced its functions to the point where it went from making observations to surveillance, even understanding the workings of the planet._

 _The greater its enhancements, the more complicated its administration policy.  
It created many terminals and even made artificial intelligences to manage functions for each section. However, it firmly refused to install an artificial intelligence for itself._

 _The observer must not have a mind.  
For the observer to have a mind would result in the meaning of things being decided by the observer.  
Thus, it kept to maintaining its absolute objectivity as an eye, doing so while always dismantling the emerging semblances of sapience that it had incorporated to administrate its functions._

 _Thus, this computer has no conception of good and evil, no desire for the future, not even an outcome_ ]

" _Hmmm…what do you think about all this?"_ asked Naruto thoughtfully.

" **I'm rather relieved that such a machine does not exist in our world, it falling into the hands of people similar to the Akatsuki would have led to the destruction of the world sooner than one could blink,"** said Kurama with a frown.

" _Me too, how do you think we should go about this?"_

" **To be truthful, I don't really know for sure but what I do know is that we're better off not making any wishes whatsoever to the Moon Cell,"**

" _But then what should we do?"_

" **Be careful as always and try to find out more along the way as we draw close to the finals of the tourney,"**

Naruto sat on the edge of the bed with a thoughtful look "I guess you have a point there, we've gotten this far so we might as well go all the way in this," he projected a Holo-screen to check on his stats and gears in the meantime "So far the competitors left are me, Tamamo-chan, Archer and Gilgamesh. Merely looking at the last two tells me that I'm in for a tough time when I go up against either of them, especially since I don't know anything about their skills and techniques besides what Lancer told me about them,"

" **I know, but that hasn't stopped you either when you fought opponents who were stronger than you but still came out victorious in the end,"**

" _Some of those which I had to use some of your chakra to do so, and I get the feeling that I'm going to need a lot of your help on this,"_ Naruto closed the Holo-screen and stood up to stretch a bit.

[Hey boss, we got a notification from BB about the next round] said C-Naruto.

"Okay, I'm heading to the meeting spot right now. Just make sure that all of the battlechips are recharged beforehand," said Naruto.

[Roger that]

Naruto left the room after being wished good luck by Alice and Shiori, he was walking down the hallway and was contemplating on how the next round is going to be like when he heard someone calling his name and turned round to see that it was Tamamo happily skipping towards him.

"Hi Maelstrom-kun, I was wondering where you were," said Tamamo with a cheerful smile.

Naruto smiled back before responding "I was doing some training in the previous stages to sharpen my battling skills,"

"Well you could have waited a bit so that I could tag along. We did make a good team after all," said Tamamo with a cute pout, causing Naruto to rub the back of his head sheepishly.

"Sorry about that, I didn't know you wanted to follow me since I was a bit anticipative now that we're in the semifinals,"

The fox girl looked thoughtful at his statement "You have a point there, the remaining contestants besides us are tough as nails according to what I've been hearing and no doubt that we would be facing either of them,"

"Yeah, but that ain't gonna stop me from aiming for the top," said Naruto with a foxy grin.

"That's right, I'm definitely going to accomplish my mission too!"

The duo smiled at each other as they arrived at the entrance of the Sakura Labyrinth where they saw Archer already there, the red NetNavi simply glanced at them before looking away without saying a word, causing them to sweatdrop at the silent treatment as Kuro appeared via a Holo-screen with a sheepish look on her face.

[Sorry about that, Archer isn't exactly a talkative type] said Kuro, feeling a bit embarrassed at how her NetNavi is acting.

"We can tell as much," said Naruto.

"It appears that the peons have been waiting to be graced by my presence as expected," they turned towards the voice to see Gilgamesh strutting with the pride of a peacock.

[I apologize for the lateness as I had to adjust my NetNavi's parameters beforehand] said Gil when appearing via a Holo-screen.

"It's okay, we're all here now at least," said Tamamo.

In a bright flash of light, BB appeared before them and bowed "I welcome you all to the semifinals of the tournament and must commend on you all making it this far,"

"You should expect nothing but perfection from the king of heroes, the rest however only got here by luck which will soon run out," said Gilgamesh arrogantly with everyone glaring at him.

" _Can this guy get any cockier?"_ thought Naruto with a glare.

" **I doubt there's a limit,"** said Kurama.

BB spoke up to catch their attention "In this round, we will be utilizing a one-on-one battle format. The names of the competitors will be shuffled randomly before being placed," she waved a hand to project a large Holo-screen which displayed the portraits of the current competitors which began shuffling about quickly before stopping to present the lineups

 **Maelstrom exe** **VS** **Archer  
Tamamo ****VS** **Gilgamesh**

"So I'll be facing Archer huh…," Naruto glanced to the side to see said person looking at him intently and was a bit intimidated before he looked away.

"Hmph, so I'll be facing a little girl. This won't even count as a scuffle," said Gilgamesh with a scoff.

Tamamo glared at the NetNavi "I'll get back at you for that little girl comment!"

Naruto walked up to the fox girl with a look of concern "Please be careful Tamamo-chan, this is the same guy who took out Lancer in the second round,"

"Don't worry, I'm sure I can beat him. Just like I beat Elizabeth, so you don't need to worry so much," said Tamamo confidently, but the ninja was still worried.

"I can understand your reason for worry, but right now you need to focus on the current matter at hand which is facing your opponent," said Kurama.

"I guess you're right, might as well get psyched up for the upcoming battle then," Naruto watched as the others walked into the entrance and were warped to new destinations before he too followed after them with BB watching them leave with a smile on her face.

Meanwhile, Passionlip was hiding behind a tree and watching Naruto leave with a look of anxiousness, though she felt a bit uncomfortable with how close the fox girl was next to him.

"I hope that he makes it back okay, maybe we could talk some more and-" suddenly she felt her head beginning to throb painfully, causing her to fall to her knees and attempt to stave it off but it only grew worse "W-what's happening to me? I'm feeling so…," her vision began turning into static, then Passionlip slowly got back to her feet with her eyes appearing glazed as she spoke "Moon Cell system override, objective assigned: Eliminate anomaly…Maelstrom exe,"

* * *

 **This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto and Kurama began to have suspicions concerning the tournament and the ones affiliated to it. So they set out to do some investigations and in doing so, came upon secrets shocking to them. Naruto also encountered an AI called Kazuradrop who is actually an offshoot of BB herself with the same going for Passionlip and one other person, the ninja has come to realize he's gotten himself into something big and has to be on guard lest he gets taken out of the long run. The next round has been revealed to be one-on-one duels with Naruto facing Kuro and her NetNavi Archer while Tamamo takes on Gil and his Gilgamesh but it appears that Passionlip has been taken over by something and is used to target Naruto, just what is going on?**

 **Read and review as always.**

 **This is Hussbek from Ghana**

 **Signing out.**


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